Worcester nonprofit bringing hope and violence prevention to local teens
WORCESTER - In the wake of a teenager's fatal shooting last week in Worcester, a nonprofit is working to give other teens in the Massachusetts city hope.
Helping others in Worcester
At the Salvation Army Center in Worcester, teens are learning important lessons both on and off the court. They're part of an organization called CHEER, which stands for Cultural Healthy Eating Exercise Resource program. It was founded by Echo Louissaint two years ago to help quell some of the teen violence taking place throughout the city.
"It's sad, it's tragic, programs like mine are definitely needed," said Louissaint. "We need support from the city, we need funding."
"I've seen a lot of violence and there's also the fact that one in seven families don't even know where their next meal is coming from," said 16-year-old Darien Daniels, who's been coming to CHEER for the past year. "It's pretty much just helped me become, like a leader. It's helped me get in depth with my community."
At CHEER, the teens come from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. every day at no cost. In exchange, they learn the values of giving back to the community. "I've filled community fridges out, we've gone out to homeless people and given them food," said Daniels.
Learning life lessons
Louissant said her teens are walking away with life lessons.
"Cleaning up the park. Collecting food donations. They were becoming little community activists themselves," said Louissant.
Eden Adams, 16, said the program gave her a whole new outlook on life.
"Because the CHEER program, in general, it pushes to have you stay off the street," said Adams. Here, they provide mental health counseling, mentoring, a cultural cooking program and self-defense training for girls.
"Able to defend ourselves in case where someone who is physically stronger than us comes at us," said Adams.
Louissant said the need is great and more than she can handle. She hopes others will join in her mission.
"The need is way beyond what I can do," said Louissant. "So that they know that they have purpose, they have value, they have worth."