 photo by steed media service
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Human Resources Director, Garden of Prayer Youth Center
Thirty years ago Marcus Maloney’s
grandfather and grandmother noticed a remarkable change in the behavior
of young males in Markham, Ill., as they participated in games like
softball and baseball. Maloney’s grandparents built the Garden of
Prayer Youth Center, 60 miles outside of Chicago, to ship urban kids to
the country in hopes of teaching them valuable life skills.
Today, Maloney and his brother are keeping
their grandparents’ mission alive. Thanks to their mother’s
efforts, in 1995, the GOP Youth Center gained its official nonprofit
status and offers various mentorship, after-school and educational
programs for inner-city kids.
“When
[kids] are isolated and taken outside of their comfort zone, then
they’re left not knowing what to do and then they really have to
listen, understand and be led by older individuals because they have no
idea what element they’re in,” Maloney says.
It’s
the push to get these kids out of their environment that really
distinguishes the GOP says Maloney. “That really makes the
program a lot different,” he says. “They’re out of
their element and they’re learning something totally new and
[they’re] opened up to new experiences.”
Recently,
the GOP Youth Center was honored with the National City
Children’s Champion Award, but Maloney insists he’s not in
it for the shiny hardware.
“What makes
me proud?” he asks. “To see those kids that came from
barely making it out of school to now graduating and going on to
master’s level programs and executive level programs, [that makes
me proud].” –gavin philip godfrey
