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The heroes of our city- Chicago Blackhawks and the Dream Leaders

June 11th, 2010 by DreamsforKids | 3 Comments | Filed in Abby Kritzler |

My dad has had been a Blackhawks season ticket holder since long before I was born, so I was raised with an ingrained appreciation for the team and sport. It wasn’t until the Blackhawks became the top sponsor of Dreams for Kids last summer, though, that my respect for the organization reached an entire new level. The amount of resources the Chicago Blackhawks have given to Dreams for Kids and their other charities is truly amazing. I’ve had the great honor of working with their front office throughout the year, and can say with confidence that they demonstrate just as much dedication, commitment, and passion off the ice, as the players do on it.

Still, I think the reason I have become such a devoted fan of the Blackhawks and the sport of hockey is because their resilience and ability to succeed through challenge after challenge reminds me a lot of the youth in our Dream Leaders program. People give hockey players a lot of credit for their toughness, and after attending the infamous Duncan Keith teeth loss game, I am the first to say that credit is deserved. I thought it was absolutely remarkable that Duncan Keith came back on the ice. I saw Marian Hossa wincing with burning pain during Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals after getting cross checked by a Flyer, and was blown away when he came back on the ice. I’ve also seen Brent Seabrook have more bleeding wounds glued together and come back on the ice than should be possible. These guys are undoubtedly heroic.
But what about the young heroes in our communities who must continuously endure pain and obstacles far beyond what a dentist can fix? When you consider one of our Dream Leaders whose parents were such raging alcoholics that he had to help feed and dress his father when he was only 5 years old and had his mother walk out on his family on his tenth birthday, it is impressive that he even continues to show up to school each day, but it is heroic that he came to one of our Dream Leaders events at 7:30am on a Saturday, so he could tell his story to other kids to help them through their struggles.   That was his ice.
When our students tell me their struggles—abuse, neglect, grief, violence, disability—my initial reaction is always to tear up and get angry that we live in a world where people so young have to deal with so much. Then, the kids remind me that their stories are not to be pitied but to be respected. Just as Duncan Keith has loved showing off his toothless grin as a badge of courage, we have taught our Dream Leaders to be proud of their stories and share them with others because what they have endured has made them care even deeper about giving back to others. It is fitting that many of our Dream Leaders are graduating high school the same weekend that the Chicago Blackhawks are celebrating their championship, because the fact that our kids have come from such struggle to graduate and go onto college to continue giving their gifts to the world is their Stanley Cup victory. Congratulations to our valued partner the Chicago Blackhawks and congratulations to our graduating Dream Leaders. You all are the most deserving, heroic people I know.
All my best,
Abby
PS Watch the video below to see Dreams for Kids tribute to the Chicago Blackhawks.

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Who is waiting for you?

April 6th, 2010 by DreamsforKids | 1 Comment | Filed in Abby Kritzler |

Cortez is one of our most active Dream Leaders, yet his life wasn’t always about helping others. Being born 1 lb 7 ounces due to drug abuse by his parents, Cortez has lived his entire life fighting.  Drugs, violence, and incarceration have been a constant in his family. As a result, Cortez was a self-proclaimed “bad kid,” so much so that he got expelled from school.

Now, Cortez is the Vice President of his senior class, going to Seton Hall in the fall, one of our Dream Leaders Captains and Youth Speakers, and has come to just about every community service event we have offered (with the exception of one that I made him stay home from to do scholarship applications for college).    So what changed? I asked Cortez that exact question, and his answer was simple, yet profound. “I used to wake up every morning and think about all that was wrong with my life and my family. Now, after being in the Dream Leaders program, I wake up and think about who is out there waiting for me to come help them.”

As to Cortez’s point, the reality is there are countless people waiting for him, and that is the exact point of the Dream Leaders program. Last week, we planned a “Give Back Spring Break” so our Dream Leaders who didn’t have anywhere to go on spring break had something positive to do with their time. We joined forces with an organization called Kid Power that works with underserved communities in Washington DC and hosted 11 students visiting from our Nation’s Capital.   We also teamed up with Mercy Home, a long-term residential home for troubled youth, so our Dream Leaders volunteer team brought students together from as far South as 105th in Chicago, as far North as Highland Park, and as far east as Washington DC!

The week brought a diverse set of opportunities for our youth—Monday, we worked with Monday Night with the Kids to bring a pizza party to homeless youth, Tuesday, we embarked on a Chicago Amazing Race with all tasks revolving around themes of civic engagement, Wednesday, we hosted an Extreme Recess event helping kids with disabilities experience rock climbing, and Thursday, we cleaned up the backyard at Clara’s House homeless shelter in Englewood, so the kids would have a nice place to play now that the weather is warming.

As always, when we do these events, the part that struck the deepest chord within me is that most of the Dream Leaders have so many of their own considerable problems ranging from poverty to abuse to loss of a loved one and so on. Yet, they are so committed to helping others despite or maybe because of their own struggles. When they do this work together, they are no longer from the South Side or the West Side or the North Side. They are on Dreams for Kids side. They are on the side that is determined to help others. So I ask all of you, who is waiting for you to come help them?

Click here to join the Dream Leaders movement.  Click here to see all the pictures from last week’s Give Back Spring Break.

Are you the Dream Leader type?

January 20th, 2010 by DreamsforKids | 2 Comments | Filed in Abby Kritzler |
The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.-Martin Luther King Jr.
When we planned to have some of our Dream Leaders volunteer with Chicago Cares Celebration of Service in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. on Saturday, January 16th, we were nervous of how many students would actually show up at 7:45am on the Saturday of their vacation weekend, especially when you consider many of them don’t have involved parents who will wake them up.  That’s why as each Dream Leader shuffled in from the cold as the sun had barely risen, we became all the more filled with hope for this generation.  Watching these teens so committed to helping others and so proud of being a Dream Leader made the day one of the most inspiring of my life.  Yet, rather than hearing how I was impacted, I thought it would be better to hear from one of the Dream Leaders.  I now introduce you to George Lopez, Dream Leader:
Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned a world in which everyone got along and worked together to accomplish a goal peacefully.  On Saturday January 16, 2010, 3000 people from different backgrounds came together to help fix neighborhoods that were labeled with negative words and pictures and to give a helping hand to those who couldn’t help themselves.
I woke up at 6:00am on Saturday to dedicate my day to Martin Luther King and his dream. I met up with Abby Kritzler, the coordinator of Dreams for Kids, along with nine other Dream Leaders at Union Station. We were headed to Team Englewood Community Academy on the south west side of Chicago. Team Englewood is a new school that is filled with potential. The volunteers of the day saw the school to be filled with worthy students that deserved a better learning environment. So we set off to better improve their school.
The Dream Leaders, accompanied by other volunteers, spent the day creating a mosaic to say “Go Eagles,” the school’s mascot. The process took many hours to complete but included lots of team work, hard work, and dedication from Dream Leaders of different backgrounds. The day was filled with events and adventures that brightened my life and the view I had on the world and what we as a people could accomplish.
What struck me the most was the fact that many of the Dream Leader volunteers were in high school, one even in a wheel chair. This goes to show that everyone is capable of learning and helping. Now I realize what it truly means to be a Dream Leader. Being a Dream Leader means being the type of person that will go out of your way to help others in need. To look at the world with open eyes and open hands and inspire the millions of people who are pushed aside, because of their race, social class, and abilities. January 16, 2010 will always be in my memory as the day when everyone became one and accomplished everything.
To see all the pictures from the event click HERE.
Sincerely, Abby Kritzler and the Dream Team

Do your friends look like you?

January 13th, 2010 by DreamsforKids | 3 Comments | Filed in Abby Kritzler |

Today, I was talking to one of the Dream Leaders who graduated high school and is now attending University of Illinois.  He’s making great grades, and he seems to be really happy, but I was troubled when he told me that he sees “the racism that people warned me about.”  I thought college was supposed to be the time that everyone breaks away from their sheltered childhood to learn from people different then they are.   When I asked him to explain what he meant, he went on to tell me a number of stories about feeling like the white students in his dorm would barely look at him, let alone talk to him.  He said there had been a number of altercations between students of different races.  He said he was still trying to make friends of different races, but that he was finding comfort in groups like the African Alliance.

I told him how sad I was that those people who weren’t interested in his friendship were missing out so much.  Not only is he an amazing person with a fascinating background that anyone could learn from, but the people I have been most impacted by in my life are those with drastically different backgrounds than I.  I went to a pre-dominantly white high school and college and felt like I really missed out on a lot because of it.  It wasn’t until later in life that my friends became more diverse, and they still aren’t as diverse as I wish they were.

Sometimes when I look at our Dream Leaders, teens as diverse as they come, working together with no recognition of the differences, but rather in celebration of their common goals, I feel a twinge of reflection on my life.  Where was this program when I was in high school?  Why didn’t we reach those U of I students before they became trapped in the comfort of hanging out with friends who look like them?

After that conversation, I am more passionate than ever of the importance of the Dream Leaders program and reaching as many students as we can!

Teen Violence- It Doesn’t Have to be This Way

September 28th, 2009 by DreamsforKids | 1 Comment | Filed in Abby Kritzler, blogs |

During my time working with inner-city youth, I have witnessed my share of teen violence.  A large part of my previous job was helping to organize and attend funerals for teenagers whose lives were taken much too soon.  I would check the police reports as part of my daily routine.  I have watched a sixteen year shot to death right before my eyes.  You would think I would be numb to the scarring violence, yet when I read the newspaper on the el this morning and uncovered all the details of Derrion Albert’s death, the Fenger High School honor student who was beaten to death by his peers last week, I was still ill.  When I looked at pictures from the appalling incident, it was the faces of the attackers that haunted me the deepest.  It was the pure hatred and rage in their eyes that taunted me.  I couldn’t help but thinking what abuse and constant emotional carnage these teen murders must have suffered to be left at this place.

As soon as this thought came, I was quickly taken to the stories of the teens I work with in the Dream Leaders Program. Most of them have endured pain just as horrendous as the teens in question. Our Dream Leaders’ stories are hard to hear. They are stories of suffering from physical and sexual abuse, witnessing violence, enduring the death of loved ones, facing discrimination for their disability or skin-color, and bouncing hopelessly around the foster care system.
Yet, the Dream Leaders aren’t living lives of anger so potent that it leads them to massacre their peers. Quite the opposite. The Dream Leaders are using their struggles to help others. They are creating youth groups at their schools to support one and other. They are doing school supply drives for children, because they know what is like to go without. They are creating workshops for their diverse peers to break down stereotypes and social barriers.
So, I say to every teen out there, I know you don’t have a choice of what pain life has thrown at you, but you do have a choice of what you do with that pain. You can allow it eat away at your heart and turn you into the monster you once so feared. Or can choose to use your suffering as motivation to help others. To give back. To break the cycle.
Join the Dream Leaders movement, today. It’s your choice.  Make the right one.

New Dream Leaders Video- “I’m just like you.”

August 4th, 2009 by DreamsforKids | 5 Comments | Filed in Abby Kritzler, blogs |

It is with great pride that I unveil our latest video–”I’m just like you- Living with Disabilities” created by the Dream Leaders at the Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education (ICRE).   The Dream Leaders at ICRE all have disabilities and have continuously struggled with not feeling accepted by others.  As part of their final project for Dream Leaders, they wanted to make a video to help people understand that having a disability is just one part of who they are and does not define their entire identities.  As a result, they came up with questions and interviewed each other.  I could not be any prouder of the powerful work they have done!  They look forward to hearing your thoughts!

“I’m just like you”- Living with disabilities from Abby Kritzler on Vimeo.

From Limitations to Hope- Dream Leaders

July 2nd, 2009 by DreamsforKids | 2 Comments | Filed in Abby Kritzler, blogs |

Last night was another insanely powerful Dream Leaders workshop at the Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education (ICRE).  The students enrolled in our Dream Leaders program at ICRE have a lot on their plate.  Not only do they have disabilities that create constant obstacles for them, but they now have the pending Illinois budget cuts looming over their heads, a decision that could potentially shut down the facility that provides them with housing, food, life-skills training, and most importantly, community.  Despite all these personal struggles, the sentiment in our workshop last night was not one of self-pity, but rather one of great pride.  Through the Dream Leaders program, the students at ICRE have planned a series of fundraisers to send wheelchairs to children overseas.  Last night, for the first time, they got to see pictures of kids in far away countries whose lives were greatly altered by the gift of mobility.  Each student in our workshop received a picture of a child similar to the ones they will be helping.  As the pictures sat on their wheelchair trays you could watch their faces literally transform one by one.  In that moment, it was no longer about their obstacles, it was about what they had to give.

“Think about how much we raised at our first bake sale, and that was only selling to people here at ICRE,” Carrie, one of the Dream Leaders announced. “Imagine what we can do, if we actually passed out flyers and got more people to come this time!”
“I could get my mama to come,” offered Shamique.
“And I could invite the people I work with over at the other ICRE facility,” Ashley realized.
“And I have an internship downtown, so maybe I could sell some of the bake goods there,” said Bobby.
And suddenly their world so often filled with limitations, was filled with possibilities, filled with giving, filled with hope.

A Lesson From Ashley

May 4th, 2009 by DreamsforKids | 2 Comments | Filed in Abby Kritzler, blogs |

Why do we help others? Is it because of some hole we must fill in our own lives? It is an addiction to that “look what a great person I am” feeling? Is it because it makes us feel better about our own lives to look down on someone else that we can label as more needy? Yes, I’ve heard all these cynical theories and have challenged myself to determine to which I best belong .

But I can honestly say after ten years of being involved in giving back and soul searching, I reject all these theories. For me, it is the lessons I have learned and the ways I have been inspired by the people I’ve worked with through these endeavors. Last week was no different.
I went to the Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education (ICRE) to facilitate a workshop on social awareness. ICRE is a living facility for kids with severe disabilities, so these kids didn’t need a lesson on a social issue—they were surrounded by it every day. These kids had overcome some of life’s most unforgiving obstacles and were continuing to fight them every single day.  These remarkable kids are painfully aware of how others see them. When asked what makes them angry as part of the workshop, one girl in wheel chair asked “if I’m okay with my body, why can’t the rest of society be?” If these kids want to complain about their lives, it would be hard to blame them.
During the workshop, we watched clips of what life is like for people with disabilities in Ghana. Many of them didn’t have wheelchairs, so their knees and hands were badly bloodied from literally crawling in the streets. One woman got around by wearing sandals on her hands. These were the lucky ones. Many babies born with disabilities are “seen off” meaning they never make it back to the homes after their births. When the video ended the room was quiet. I let them have a moment to reflect on what they had just seen. Then, Ashley, one of the students, broke the silence. “We are so lucky,” she whispered to a room full of somber agreement. “What can we do for them?” She continued.
I breathed in a new hope for our world. In that instant, Ashley’s world was no longer about her. It wasn’t about her disability, about her struggles, about her story. It was about what she had to give.   What would happen if we all made the commitment to change our thinking, no matter what our life may have brought us, to think about how lucky we are and what we have to give? I know this is a time in our history where the world is looking at loss and devastation, and I don’t blame them. We don’t have much control over our jobs being lost, our bank accounts being depleted, and our loved ones struggling. But what we do have control over is how we think about it and what we do about. So, I challenge all of you to a week of thinking like Ashley.   What in your life makes you lucky and what can you do for others?

What Everyone Should Know About Inner-City Kids

April 17th, 2009 by DreamsforKids | 4 Comments | Filed in Abby Kritzler, blogs |

Through the Dream Leaders program at Dreams for Kids, I have the great honor of traveling to Harlan Community Academy High School on Chicago’s South Side each week. Whenever I tell people I’m going to the South Side, I always get some kind of shutter or grimace. Sometimes there is an attempt-to-be-witty comment to follow. “What, are you trying to get shot?” “Lock your car.” Etc.   A couple of weeks ago I was in a grocery store on the South Side, and the check-out lady was even knocking on the community!  When I told her I worked at Harlan Community Academy, she asked why I would want to hang out with all those bad kids. It was the exact same thing when I used to work with inner-city kids in Boston. I’m so tired of everyone automatically assuming that kids are “bad kids” just because of where they grew up!

So, here are some things I think everyone should know about inner-city kids.
· Kids from the inner-city are in NO WAY BAD KIDS. They are some of the most caring, passionate, genuine, determined kids I have ever met.
· The biggest crime most of them commit is truly believing that they are unlovable. So many kids I have talked to have been abandoned by so many people in their lives that they really think no one will ever love them.   I have had kids- charming, endearing, beautiful, magical kids look me in the eye and tell me they are not worth anyone’s love.
· Because they have dealt with so much so young, they have a remarkable wisdom that should be deeply respected.   One student told me how his parents came from rival gangs and after a series of horribly traumatic experiences, he was left to raise himself at age 11. I’ve worked with another student who had to army crawl off his football practice because of a spray of gunfire. I’ve watched children-CHILDREN-bounce between different homeless shelters, raise younger siblings, have babies, run from gunfire, watch their peers being shot to death, and honestly believe they won’t make it until their 18th birthdays.   When these kids talk about the world, I mean really talk to you, it’s incredible how profound they can be. I have learned more from teenagers in the inner-city than any adult I have ever met.
· The fact that so many of them are constantly dealing with their own struggles does not prevent them from wanting to help others. In fact, it is because they are dealing with so many of their own struggles that they are all the more determined to help others. As one of our Dream Leaders who happens to have a disability put it simply: “Because we have been helped, we want to help.”
· Their contributions towards the community should be all the more celebrated because of the obstacles many of them have overcome to achieve them. All of the Dream Leaders at Harlan are doing fundraising projects for kids with disabilities. However, they are facing challenges when developing their projects that many other kids would never have to think about.  For instance, some students wanted to put on a talent show at their local community center, but decided against because they concluded there is way too much violence and shootings that go down at the center. When other students suggested they go door-to-door selling Mother’s Day cards, the common response was “Shoot, I’ll get shot if I knock on doors in my neighborhood!”
· They can have a tremendous impact on this world and creating social change! Because of their wisdom, strong sense of community, and knowledge of suffering, kids from the inner-city have an amazing ability to empathize and care for others.   This ability when matched with a good education makes inner-city kids some of the most important future leaders and global ambassadors.
I can’t say enough times what a tremendous honor it has been to work with students from Chicago’s South Side through Dreams for Kids. Every time I visit Harlan my beliefs are reconfirmed—If you take the often wounded, always passionate hearts of teens from the inner-city and provide them the education and resources they need to create positive social change, they are unstoppable!!  I look forward to the day when I tell people I’m traveling to Chicago’s South Side, and they respond with a smile, “Lucky!”
With the Dream Leaders program, that day may be sooner than we think.

What We Can All Learn from Kids with Disabilities

April 17th, 2009 by DreamsforKids | 2 Comments | Filed in Abby Kritzler, blogs |

On my way to my first Dream Leaders workshop for Dreams for Kids, I was a little nervous because I don’t have that much experience working with teens with disabilities. When we entered the Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education (ICRE), we were immediately greeted with smiling faces and my nerves were immediately calmed. I made instant friends with Nate, or Nate-dawg as his friends call him, who touched my heart and even asked if Abby and I would come back for a special event to honor a friend and Special Olympics coach of his.

Nate was not the only one who lifted my spirits, as the day continued I was captivated by all of the positive energy and love in the room. The stories and letters people shared all made me realize the importance of having such a strong support system. Having positive people in your life who motivate you to be your best every day is so essential to living a memorable and happy life. There are some days that I don’t even want to get out of bed because it is too cold outside or I don’t feel like walking the 5 blocks to school. But there are people in my life who motivate me, and who I look forward to motivating as well, to always have a smile on my face even on the darkest of days. It is like a chain of optimism, the people who can make you laugh while pushing you to do your best everyday and then passing that encouragement onto others. In this same way, the teens at ICRE not only have a great support system but they also have such love and appreciation that it restored my hope that there are still respectful and kind hearted people in the world. There are days it seems like everyone around me is mad at the world and could care less about saying “thank you” or “have a nice day.” At ICRE, they say thank you with the kindest of words and when volunteering their appreciation letters they had written, left not a dry eye in the room.

After focusing on strengths through activities such as paper chain links and pounding out the “not” in the clay word “cannot”, I felt better about myself- not because I was giving back to the community through service, but because I was encouraged by the kids around me to always focus on my own strengths. It is easy to get frustrated and discouraged when it seems your inabilities overshadow your strengths, but the enthusiasm and positive energy in the room allowed everyone to feel confident and looks past their disabilities. I left nothing shy of inspired and motivated to keep encouraging others. It’s a great thing to see people who you care about and who have so much to offer the world not only achieving their goals but also giving back to the community.

At the end of the workshops, the kids of ICRE will be choosing a service plan to help out another local group in the community. Currently, another workshop at Harlan High School is holding a fund raiser to allow some of the kids of ICRE to go scuba diving. On land, kids living with disabilities have many limits and obstacles that can discourage and draw attention to inabilities. However, under water those disabilities almost disappear and allow them to move and explore the world freely and comfortably. It’s thrilling to see the joy on their faces when they talk about their upcoming trip but also how eager they were to give back so other kids with disabilities could have life-changing experiences.

I am currently a part of a sorority at DePaul University, and it is hard to motivate people to gain their required amount of 6 hours of community service a quarter. It is almost shameful, why wouldn’t someone want to give back to this wonderful community any chance they could? It’s such a rewarding experience to touch the lives of others and see how they change your life as well.  If these teenagers who have overcome so many obstacles are able to give back, why can’t the rest of us?  I am looking forward to going back to visit my new friends at ICRE and seeing what progress they have made since we parted ways. The way they touched my heart and sparked motivation in me is truly something I will never forget and am eternally grateful for.  We can all learn from kids with disabilities!

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