SOMETIMES THINGS JUST DON'T WORK OUT THE WAY YOU ANTICIPATED...

Sadly, about a month ago the Children’s Community Support Collaborative (CCSC), which is the group that YPI KIDS was working with at The Home for Little Wanderers, withdrew from the 2010 YPI KIDS Project Tomorrow. A variety of unanticipated issues surfaced during the project. As an example, by the end of the week of July 7th, which was the film due date, only three Participants had turned in the roll of film and none had completed the Subject Selection Questionnaire, both of which integral parts of the program.

Obviously, there were many other factors and events that contributed to this situation. As the Director of the CCSC program said to me during one of our discussions before they reached their final decision, “Believe me when I tell you that they have many, many other issues that occupy their thoughts / attention”. And that pretty much says it all. They were a great group of kids and I am indeed saddened by the fact that we were unable to pull it off.

In hindsight I would say that the single biggest underlying problem was that the Participants did not have the type of “hands-on” support and encouragement from their parents/guardians that others had in prior YPI KIDS programs. I had limited access to the children and there were only two counselors, no parents, involved and they had a significant number of other responsibilities at CCSC.

While the turn of events was unfortunate, it was a valuable lesson learned and one that will certainly help in the selection process for a candidate for our 2011 YPI KIDS program. The good news is that we received a tremendous amount of financial support in our fund raising efforts. I was very fortunate to have a family step up as a “Sponsor” for about half the funds needed for the project. In addition we received support from a broad range of people who had just heard about the program recently.

As we get into the fall, I will once again start the search for an institution to work with in 2011. If any of you have any suggestions, I would welcome them. For the present time I am going to continue to focus on the Boston area.

Once again I want to thank my Board, Alison Chase a very talented lady who so kindly volunteered her time to come and teach the class in June with me and all those who contributed financially to this year's project. To the six special children who signed up for the project, we gave it our best shot and wish you all the best of luck with your treatment program at CCSC.