04 Jan Dear Young Person
NBC News ranked the Aug. 11 and 12 rallies in Charlottesville as one of the top 10 news stories of 2017. The Atlantic rated the photo of protesters being hit by a car on 4th street the top news photo of the year. For those of us living in Charlottesville, 2017 was a tense and stressful year, particularly for our children.
Athena Gould, Executive Director of Big Brothers, Big Sisters of the Blue Ridge was moved to find ways to speak words of hope to Charlottesville’s children. From this was born that #DearYoungPerson campaign. Recently, ReadyKids was a recipient of dozens of #DearYoungPerson postcards. They came from Louisiana, New York, Texas, Illinois, Mississippi, Florida and even as far away as Norway. Each one had touching words of inspiration and light. These postcards now hang in the ReadyKids waiting room where children in the Inside Out program, who have experienced trauma, can read them.
If you also need a pick-me-up, take some time to read what beautiful people all around the country took the time to say to hurting kids. It’ll make you believe the world is a good place again.
