One day in November 2018, a woman with a sweet timid demeanor approached our MARKED team member and told him that she was the mother of 3 young boys, 8, 12 and 14 years old. As we continued the conversation she had informed us that her husband 7 years earlier had crossed the border into the United States in search of a good job that would allow him to help provide for his family. Leaving her to raise 3 sons on her own.
With timidity in her voice, she began to ask what she had to do to enroll her sons in the MARKED soccer program as she was worried like many moms that if not soccer, they would be headed down the path like so many others in the community of a life of drugs and organized crime.
Sam, our community program coordinator gave her the necessary information for her sons to enroll, and without thinking invited her personally back to spend time with our team and help prepare food for the community kitchen.
The following day, there she was, ready to help with anything necessary. And since that day, she has been back nearly every day since. Her once timid demeanor began to blossom into full strength. Her boys grew a love for soccer and quickly became part of the team. Through her daily visits, she said the thing that kept drawing her back was how safe and loved she and her boys felt. They belonged.
Over the past year, she was trained on how to run the community center office as well as educational tasks. Today, she runs our homework club. Her children attend school, as well as the after school programs and every day her boys soccer skills are improving.
She says more than anything her family has found a safe place in MARKED but more than anything, they found Jesus and are never looking back.
Their generational line has forever been MARKED.