The least of these…

The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.” (CEV)

After a hiatus of several years, I’m looking to serve and volunteer at our local Alternative Learning Center (ALC). A little primer if you are unfamiliar with the ALC approach to helping students learn, graduate, and flourish. A few decades ago, some top-notch educators recognized that there was a population of young people who traditional secondary schools did not/could not serve well. Alternative approaches were piloted and birthed.

ALC students don’t do well in traditional settings for a variety of reasons – learning disorders, broken homes and broken lives, chemical dependency (theirs and/or their parents), residual fetal drug and alcohol effects, etc., etc.

My road to serving at our local ALC over 15 years ago, was precipitated by the tragic death of Johnny*, a student in our community. Johnny’s circle of friends included students at both the traditional high school and the ALC. Having previously helped facilitate grief & loss groups at the high school, I decided to lead a group off-site so I could serve kids from both schools. Amazing relationships grew out of our time together.

Wanting to stay connected with the students from the ALC, I decided to stop by at lunchtime one day. The school had a closed-campus policy related to the presence of youth ministers. Upon entering the school I immediately ran into the principal. She was rightfully interested as to why I showed up in her building of 100 students. I explained that I had facilitated a grief & loss group of some of Johnny’s friends and wanted to check in with them to see how they were doing. No more questions. She took me right to the lunchroom to see the kids I knew. The closed campus was apparently open to those willing to serve “their kids.”

Over the next dozen or so years, I served in that school in a variety of capacities – tutoring, mentoring, administering Acclaro (a values clarification process I honed for students), starting a chess club, serving at Holiday meals, and leading grief & loss groups regularly (there was a lot of grief and loss among the students!). One of my favorite capacities was serving in an English/Leadership class. Attending a couple of times a week, I became part of the fabric of the class.   

In the Leadership Class, the students gave several topical speeches throughout the semester.  They wanted me to join them and give speeches as well.  After each speech, the floor was open for encouragement and follow-up questions.  One time, after giving my speech and the kids had exhausted their questions, the teacher said, “I have a question.  Why do you do this?  Why did you choose to serve in this class?”  I asked her if she wanted my real and honest answer.  She said, “Yes.”

The honest answer I gave?  “I do this because I think Jesus would have.  He displayed a big heart for ‘the least of these’ and encouraged his followers to do likewise.”  Gesturing to the students I said, “You know I don’t see you as the least of these” to which they responded, “No, but everyone else does.”  The teacher concurred.

One of the great privileges during my tenure serving our local ALC was the collaborative establishment of a one-on-one mentoring program between the school and Young Life. People of faith committed to meeting with a mentee weekly on campus, encouraging him/her as they struggled to navigate the difficulties of life and school. We called the program Walk With Me. Once matched with a student, the Walk With Me mentors committed to walking with them until they graduated. It was transformative – for both the mentors and students.**

As I said earlier, after a hiatus of several years, I sense the need to find a way to serve the kids at our local ALC again. Why? I can’t not. The Jesus I follow and serve is tugging on my heart to step into the lives of some kids I don’t even know yet.

“Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.”

* Not his real name.

** Unfortunately Walk With Me didn’t survive the effects of COVID at our local ALC. It was replicated and continues to thrive at the ALC in Fergus Falls, MN.