Megan S. Morris and Dr. Gary Jensen, Political Science
In Salt Lake City at the Traveler’s Aid Society Family Shelter there are many kids running around. They come in all shapes and sizes, all races and ethnic backgrounds, from all venues of life, from suburbs and slums. But they all have one thing in common – none of them have a home. They don’t consider the shelter their home, nor would they want to.
The reasons these children are homeless are numerous. The most common reason seems to be one of unemployment or underemployment where a parent has a job but it doesn’t pay enough to support a family in this age of overpriced housing and inflation. Most of the children at the shelter come from single parent households torn apart by drugs and booze. The family roles are not as easily defined at the shelter. Currently, the fastest growing age group of homeless is among the youth. One out of every four homeless people is a child. Homelessness is becoming an epidemic, and a national tragedy.
While most homeless reside in the city, it’s growing outward, many smaller communities now have places for the homeless. The feeling among the homeless, that a shelter is only a temporary place until they get back on their feet, is disappearing. And it’s sending a message to the millions of kids on the street all across America. A message that people in their situation cannot advance socially or economically. A message of despair, and no hope. Once a pauper, always a pauper.
I propose to change that message, and to change it through soccer.
The homeless child has little exposure to recreational sports. Playing on a sports team builds character, responsibility, and trust. These sports teams create a force that binds them to their obligations and instills a sense of belonging. Family ties strengthen as one family member cheers on another. Being part of a team also establishes self-esteem and pride. Progress can be seen on a playing field. Valuable lessons can be learned from success and failure. These qualities and experiences are necessary in changing the attitude of the homeless child.
In July of 1997, I organized a group called the Soccer Kids Alliance (SKA). Every Saturday morning, a group of volunteers and I travel to the Family Shelter to play soccer and other sports with the kids there. Frequently, the only environment a homeless child knows is that of the street, shelters, or other transitory housing. Outside of school – if they attend – these children have little exposure to many of the simple pleasures that most kids enjoy, such as going to the park. Taking them to the park to play soccer gets them away from their situation and exposes them to new surroundings.
I had originally proposed to fund a soccer team made up of kids from the shelter. I was going to enter them in a local recreation league with games every week. What actually happened, was I entered 21 kids, ages ranging from 5 to 15, into a recreation league to be held each Saturday for two months. I was extremely excited. Then the day before the league was supposed to start, the league president called and said it was not going to start that Saturday. He then called back the next week and said that the league had been changed from Saturdays, to Monday through Thursday. The games would be played at six and seven o’clock in the evening. That is where we got held up. The kids at the shelter go to a summer school during the day and usually don’t return to the shelter until after 5:30 pm. Most of the games were at 6 pm which meant the kids would basically have to go straight to their games without having a chance to eat dinner. Another problem was that of transportation. When the league was on Saturdays, it meant only one day of transport, which is easily managed. However, four days of transportation was a lot more difficult to handle. All in all, Caroline Alder, the Director of Children’s Activities, whom I was working in conjunction with at the Traveler’s Aid Society, decided that it wasn’t going to work out.
Due to the late notice, I wasn’t able to arrange for the kids to get into another league. Had the league director called earlier to announce the change in scheduling, I believe I could have done something about it. So instead of a league on Saturdays, I decided I’d take them to Pioneer Park and play soccer with them there instead. It wasn’t the league, but it still allowed them to get out of the shelter and to experience new things.
One thing I did see, was a change in the kids who regularly came each Saturday morning. The first Saturday I took them to the park, it was very hectic to say the least. The children spent virtually the whole morning arguing and fighting between themselves. We played soccer in five minute spurts in between fights. Every single one of them, from the five-year-olds, to the fifteen-year-olds, were extremely confrontational, they were all looking for a fight. The language they used was extremely foul and very frequent. I tried to lay down a few rules, no fighting and no swearing. This was completely ignored the first Saturday.
The next Saturday wasn’t much better, except for the fact that we could play a little longer before a fight broke out. Yet each week I came back, it got better and better, until by the last week, I didn’t hear one cuss word and I didn’t have to break up any fights. They were smiling more and seemed to enjoy themselves more. I enjoyed working with these kids and have fond memories of the summer.
By pulling kids off the streets and on to the playing fields, I hoped to change the message sent to these kids by their parents and peers. The message that they cannot change their socio-economic status. I hoped to instill essential qualities within each child which will help them to change their view and situation in life. Homelessness cannot and will not be solved in a day or two, but sending out a generation of children armed with optimism and hope is the start of a solution.
“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that is the essence of inhumanity.” ~ George Bernard Shaw