The End is Near

June 1st is the date for our family. Nearly equalling the anticipation of Christmas morning is the anticipation of the final day of school. Summer is here and that is akin to freedom. No alarm to set, no homework to be done, no bedtime to be met...just days at the pool, hours at the ball diamond, campfires with dad, bike rides with mom and sleepovers with friends. These are the days of summer!

But not for everyone...an 8 year old boy sat hiding in the corner of the computer lab on the final day of school until his principal finally found him there. Tears streamed down his face at the prospect of summer, an entire summer without school. The chaos of home is overwhelming whereas the structure of school is a refuge. The absence of parents is lonely whereas the encouragment from teachers is life-giving. At home the cabinets are empty and so is his stomach, but at school he has the promise of a good meal at least once each day. These are the days of summer.

For boys whose lives and families are in crisis, summer can be a dreaded time. For boys without a healthy family environment, the eight weeks of summer can drag on and on. It is our hope that by next summer a few of these boys who are right now experiencing the anxiety that comes with the ending of another school year will be experiencing excitement at the prospect of a summer with their Treefort family.