06/16/10:
St. Stephen’s Church held the first of its weekly prayer vigils at O’Day Plaground on June 8.
In the wake of the recent Boston street violence that left four young people dead in a month, St. Stephen’s Church in the city’s South End is taking its witness for peace to the playground.
Every Tuesday at 5 p.m. through mid-August, St. Stephen’s will hold a prayer service at the O’Day Playground. It’s just steps from the church and is the site of frequent gang activity and occasional violence, according the Rev. Liz Steinhauser, director of youth programs at the church.
“Imagine being seven years old and not being able to play in the playground you can see from your bedroom window,” she told the South End News last week.
The first prayer vigil at the playground last week launched this summer’s B-SAFE program run by St. Stephen’s at six Episcopal church and school sites in the South End, Dorchester, Roxbury and Chelsea. Hundreds of Episcopalians from more than 50 outlying parishes come in to make lunches, read books with children and organize field trips. As a result, some 430 children and youth are safer for six weeks each summer, and about 90 teens get counselor training and summer jobs.
Over at St. Mary’s Church in Dorchester, a new playground awaits the congregation’s children, 30 more children served by the church’s childcare center and 60 B-SAFE kids, thanks to the volunteer efforts of many, including members of St. Anne’s-in-the-Fields Church in Lincoln, Grace Church in Newton and St. Stephen’s.
“We believe that giving these children a safe place to play will go a long way towards teaching them that their lives are precious, and we hope that this will empower them to resist the lies of other forces around them, like gang violence, that treat life so flippantly,” explains diocesan Micah Project intern Mac Stewart.
He says the playground is the first phase in a larger project to renovate the entire back yard at St. Mary’s and install a basketball half-court. Donations are still needed to finish the job.
“We know that a simple playground can’t solve all the problems of poverty and violence in many of our neighborhoods, but it is our hope that having a safe place for these children to play will contribute to a culture in our community that points lives in the right direction,” Stewart says.
Kids want to make safe choices, Steinhauser says of the value of church programs like B-SAFE. “When you invest in young people, violence goes down.”
--Tracy J. Sukraw
Learn more about B-SAFE and how to get involved at www.ststephensbos.org.
Donations designated for the playground at St. Mary’s can be sent to St. Mary’s Church, 14 Cushing Avenue, Dorchester, MA 02125.