Family, Friends of Man Shot in Back by Deputy Protest
Obama ’08 Campaign Headquarters Opens On Compton Boulevard
New Boxing Club to Host First Match
Heat Alert: County Cooling Centers Available
Joseph
Phillips:
Who Would Jesus Vote For?
Money, Ads Give Health Care Top Political Billing in 2008 Election
College
Kids Calling Compton Home For The Summer
Here’s
Life Inner City is back with its compassionate urban ministry to lend
a hand
By
Gene C. Johnson Jr.
Bulletin Staff Writer
COMPTON – College
students from all over the United States, volunteering their time as
well as money at The Salvation Army’s Compton Corps, are in the
midst of experiencing what they say is a new perspective on poverty
and, in the process, strengthening their commitment to lead a life
of service.
The group is here as part of Here’s Life Inner City, a compassionate
urban ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ that gives Christian students
an opportunity to use their summer vacation volunteering in urban areas.
Regina Knickelbein and Robbie Madison – both 22 – as well
as 21-year-old Aidin Lopez have been living on-site at The Salvation
Army Compton Corps Community Center, 734 E. Compton Blvd., to pitch
in with the center’s annual youth day camp, which began June
19 and concludes July 19, said Corps Capt. Martin Ross.
Some of their duties have included feeding the homeless, mentoring
children and painting area homes.
“My heart was naturally drawn back to this area. I really prayed
about it and I felt that God was calling me back to this place for
a reason,” said
Madison, who participated in a similar endeavor in South Los Angeles
in 2005. “This is the place where I needed to be at this time.”
“You come in and you do work in the city, you’re doing
different things, you’re seeing individuals’ lives change,” said
the South Carolina resident. “You can’t really tell too
much of what’s going on. But when you step back and reflect on
what’s been done, you can see how God’s hand has been there.”
Lopez, on her second tour of duty at the corps, said she plans on coming
back to stay following her college graduation.
“I am learning a lot more than I thought I would, just the whole
culture of poverty. I had so many preconceived notions of what it (Compton)
was really like,” said the Miami resident. “I fell in love
with the people and the community. I came back because I figure I have
a lot more to learn.”
“I feel like I’m learning about different kinds of poverty
and what is poverty. The poverty that I imagined is different than
what
Compton is,” added Knickelbein, who’s from Wisconsin. “Compton
is dealing a lot more with gang violence and corruption. Overall, I
see poverty as lacking something.”
According to Ross, he and his co-captain and wife, Tory, began the
youth day camp in Compton five years, adding that they have been utilizing
Here’s Life Inner City volunteers for the past four years as
a part of the ministry’s “Summer in the City” program.
“For whatever reason, there were not any summer programs going
on and we decided that we were going to do something for the kids,” Ross
said. “In birthing a new Compton, The Salvation Army has become
neutral turf for churches, for gangs, for the community.”
Ross went on to say that some of the mural and painting that decorates
the walls of The Salvation Army were crafted by some of the student
volunteers. The Sacramento native said without the assistance of the
college students, there would be no youth day camp.
“Everybody likes to talk about the bad and the ugly in Compton,
and they forget about the good that is going on in the community,” he
said. “People not necessarily are believers in Christ, but they
can certainly say when people come together, and begin to work together,
communities begin to transform.”
“We have two main missions here: our own personal growth and
we do a lot of one-on-one mentorship,” added Lopez. “A
lot is happening in Compton and the churches are really doing a lot
here.”
“We just try to help them any way we can,” she said. “We’ve
come here to get a taste of the community, so hopefully we’ll
come back, live here and really be a part of this.”
Other services at the Compton Salvation Army include “The Love
Kitchen,” which is run by Mary Lawson, who began it in 1980 and “The
Lord’s Gym,” a Christian fitness club and entrepreneurial
venture initiated by Ross.
For more information about The Salvation Army Compton Corps and services
it offers, call (310) 639-0362.
Staff writer Allison Jean Eaton contributed to this report.
ADVERTISE | CLASSIFIEDS | ABOUT US | CONTACT US | SUBSCRIBE | HOME
This site and its contents ©2008 thecomptonbulletin.com