Helping Youth Make Good Choices

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – A Northeast Mississippi based radio network is reaching out to a local Boys and Girls Club chapter. It’s part of an after school program whose goal is to give participants the building blocks for making wise choices.

Every Monday afternoon, Pastor Joseph Parker heads to the Northside Boys and Girls Club, to quiz the youngsters.

Pastor Parker is working with a group of 10 to 12 year olds, teaching them basic principles for wise decision making.

“This is basically our Ten Commandments Project, we put together a t shirt that has the Ten Commandments on the back.,” Pastor Parker said.

Students spend about 30 minutes each week learning about wise choices, then memorizing and reciting the Ten Commandments. Their prize is that blue t-shirt, but Pastor Parker says the young people are building a solid foundation for good decision making, now, and in the future.

“Sometimes we think it prepares them for adulthood, but the fact is when young people don’t learn it’s wrong to steal, some young people don’t make it to adulthood , because, sadly, you are killed in the midst of trying to steal, or involved in murder,” Parker said.

As Unit Director for the Northside Boys and Girls Clubs, George Parks knows that many of its members are aware of the rise in violence and crime throughout the region. He believes the Ten Commandments Project helps the club fulfill its mission, to train future leaders and champions.

“We are seeing an uprising of things honestly that we just don’t want to see in our community, that’s the point and purpose of the Boys and Girls Club, for us to be a guiding light in our community so the kids will know and understand they do have an outlet,” Parks said.

Eleven year old Tryce Douglas was one of the first to get his shirt. He says he knows what to do if his friends ask him to do something that would break one of the ten laws.

“I would say no, that’s the wrong thing to do, you shouldn’t be doing that, it’s a very bad thing,” Douglas said.

Pastor Parker is encouraging churches and other groups to start similar initiatives in their areas.

The Ten Commandments Project will run through November.Urban Family Talk is part of the American Family Association.

urbanfamilytalk.com

bgcnms.org