Reaching Out to Disadvantaged Youth

in Baltimore and West Philadelphia

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About our Volunteers

The Tender Bridge owes much of its success to its dedicated core of volunteers, who are willing to go the extra mile for their kids.

Stepping up from various career paths, our volunteers have a special way of connecting with the kids. On a typical program day, our kids arrive happy to see us, but there is always an undercurrent of stress or suppressed anger. Our children are not taught to deal with these emotions. Their introverted anger shows up as a persona who cannot show weakness and to do so would bring grave consequences. Harsh words and fighting are a way of life for our kids: it's how they survive.

As a Tender Bridge volunteer, one often ends up breaking-up fights or putting a stop to quarrels, but we also learn these behaviors are a cry for help. Most of our children need a hug, a smile and a kind word. We understand our kids aren't coming to our program to "learn" a sport. They come to us from a world where they keep getting knocked down and we provide safe and solid ground.

We're sponsoring several children from the 52nd and Walnut area to play baseball free of charge in the program at the Sayre-Morris Recreation Center at 58th and Spruce. Also, our director is helping to coordinate the creation of a Double-Dutch (jump rope) league in cooperation with the city's Beacon program. We're looking into sending several of our Double-Dutch kids to a specialty camp in Tampa, Florida this summer, as well as to several competitions  and demonstrations in the region.

Recent Photos