He doesn’t know I love him: From an Executive Director

He doesn’t know I love him.

Right off the bat this sounds creepy, so you need to know that by “love” I mean a fierce, protective Mom kind of love; and by “him” I mean an 11-year-old boy.

He doesn’t know that my heart went out to him the first time I heard his story of parents in jail and a house full of younger brothers. He doesn’t know how many times our staff has talked about how we can help his family. He doesn’t know how often we pray for him.

He doesn’t know that he has a mentor because I sensed how much he needed one, or the joy I felt when he was matched. He doesn’t know I talk on the phone with his mentor every month about how he’s doing.

He doesn’t know that money for new clothes for him and his brothers at Christmas came from one of our board members. He doesn’t know that I’m the one who signed him up for basketball camp.

He doesn’t know that sometimes, when I get tired of fundraising and budgets and events and just plain asking for money, I picture his face, and I keep going. I’m not his savior – there is a Savior, and it’s not me – but I know I need to fight for this boy, and hundreds of others.

He probably has a sense I’m in his corner. But he doesn’t know the depth or intensity, and that’s OK.

Because what he knows – what I’m sure he knows – is that his mentor loves him, that other staff and volunteers on our team love him, that they show up every week, and that we aren’t going anywhere.

He knows that there’s a God who loves him. There’s a God who loves us, too, and we have no idea how much. We have no idea how deeply he knows us, the things in our lives he orchestrates, the people he puts in place to love us. The compassion I feel for this 11-year-old boy just scratches the surface of what God feels for me, and for you.

Thank you for your involvement with SCYM that makes it possible for us to love this boy both from a distance and up close every day. We thank God every day for those who walk alongside SCYM and alongside this boy. He doesn’t know you are in his corner, either, but he can feel it.

Faith Bosland, Executive Director