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Read the press release here.

For West Side Kids, Back to School Means Escape From Violence

By Mina Bloom | August 30, 2014 3:57pm
  Nonprofit organization The Darren Group hosted its first back-to-school pep rally and backpack giveaway. 
Inaugural Back-to-School Event Brings Positivity to Austin
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SOUTH AUSTIN — Believe it or not: school-aged children didn't mourn the end of three months of freedom, popsicles and sunshine at a back-to-school event Saturday afternoon.

On the contrary, kids of all ages, ranging from middle school to college-bound, said they're excited to get their grades up, see their friends and learn something new this school year.

The inaugural event, which was held in a lot behind Truth and Deliverance International Ministries, was put on by nonprofit organization The Darren Group, which was formed last June to help combat violence among young people by hosting basketball clinics and events like this one.

"Violence is so strong here," said Darren Hammond, who worked as a Chicago Bulls ball boy for a decade before he founded the organization. "We're just trying to find a cure because it is a disease. In the peak times, they have nothing to do except for hanging on corners, gangbanging and selling drugs."

Saturday afternoon kids were given free backpacks stuffed with school supplies and basketballs. They munched on hot dogs and popcorn, played basketball and double dutch, got their faces painted and jumped around in a bounce house.

"Kids want to do something, they want to be active," Hammond said. "They want to be able to show adults that they can play sports or interact with each other."

When asked what they would like to accomplish this upcoming school year, almost every kid DNAinfo Chicago talked to at the event said they saw the new year as an opportunity to raise their grades or become a better listener.

"My grades used to be low, like Ds, so I got to get my grades  up," said Jamari Wilson, 12, goes to George Leland Elementary School in Austin.

Similarly, Donvonjan Boothe, who goes to Learn Charter School in Lawndale, said she wants to improve her grades in social studies and math by "paying attention and working on multiplication at home or in [her] free time."

For parents at the event, getting kids together to play and celebrate the beginning of school has a meaningful impact on the future of the community. 

Kimberly Thomas, 52, of Lawndale, watched as three of her grandchildren played at the event Saturday. 

She was the mother of seven kids, but two of them, ages 23 and 25, died more than a decade ago. The 25-year-old was a victim of gun violence, while the 23-year-old took his own life. 

"I don't want to lose any other kids, not just my own kids, to gun violence," she said.

She said the event not only brings kids together to interact in a positive way, it also brings together parents of the same block and encourages them to get to know each other, which is invaluable. When one parent on the block is at work or not around, she said, another parent needs to be looking out for that person's kids.

"It takes a community to raise children these days," Thomas said.

"I raised my kids over on Chicago Ave. and it was rough. When we first moved in the neighborhood, I was told [to] get your kids out the neighborhood. But when I decided I was going to be a part of the neighborhood, and not just come to the neighborhood and hide, [now] the kids are calling me mom. I feel like those children are my children, too."

Chanel Moody, 36, was born and raised on the West Side before she decided to move to Villa Park with her two teenage sons because she "wanted better for her kids." 

Moody, who has been involved in The Darren Group since its inception, said the back-to-school event will continue in the community for many years to come.

"We’re getting an outpour of good support, and the kids are having a ball," Moody said. "That’s what it’s all about: Putting smiles on faces. That’s it."

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