For the past week I have been at home sick.  It sucks because I managed to get sick the same week that I had a break from school.  This means that all of my plans to have fun and go out were shot - I didn’t even get to step outside of my house.  The worst part was that my mother had to go to the Dominican Republic that same week, which meant I had no mommy to feed me and nurse me back to health.  I was literally on my own with no authority figure.

Luckily, I have friends and family to back me up.  I had my best friend Quiksilver take care of me for a day and I had my cousin Josie move in with me until my parents returned.  This was not only good for me but also good for her, because she works closer to my house than hers.

Josie works with kids in an after school program, helping them learn about what they can achieve and helping to keep them out of trouble.  She has told me several stories of kids and the things that they have gone through.  This got me thinking, “Hey, why not add gaming into the program?” Think about it - kids get to talk to one another in these programs - they get help on their homework and also get to socialize - but some kids might be more shy then others.

Why not help break the ice by adding some video games to the mix?  This could be a great way to get kids to stay in the program, get to know other kids who also love games and keep them off the streets.  If this works, it could help so many other children and even expand to other after school programs.  I’m thinking about discussing it with them and maybe donating some games that I don’t play to see how it would go.

I wrote this blog to get other gamers’ opinions on this and to help sculpt this idea so that it may become a reality to urban kids all over the country who feel alone (as I once thought I was).