Children's Shelter - great place, great kids!

" Making a positive difference in the lives of children, youth and families."

Today I was able to speak to a youth group at the Christmas Box House in Salt Lake County.

Prior to meeting with the kids I prepared a speech to share with them about self-esteem, believing in yourself, education (staying in school, and the importance of going to school to gain knowledge and skills to become what you want to in life) and to never give up. Along with speaking, I met with the kids and was able to know their names and see a bit of their personalities. The place was very quiet, very clean and well organized. A safe place for kids to go. I taught them two dances and they loved it. I had two little boys who were so in to it, I loved watching them because you dont expect them to want to dance or to necessarily be good at it and they were! I handed out "positive" notebooks in which the children can write in on a daily basis. They are supposed to write positive thoughts and words for them to go back and look at when they are having a bad day. I asked them what they had learned and they said staying in school, never giving up and believing in themselves. They all said that dance made them happy, they felt cool becuase they got to learn something new and they liked it.

While I was there two police officers walked in to visit and I found out that one of them was a ballet dancer - who would have guessed. He knew all the moves we were doing and I asked him how dance made him feel. He said it allowed him to express himself in any way possible.

As you can see Dance has a huge impact on all people. It doesn't have to be just children.