The Kitchen Table is a collaborative urban/suburban comprehensive youth life training initiative here at the club. My desire while
on the back nine of life is to begin playing a training role in these lives. I feel akin to these kids in many ways. I too grew up fearful of
being laughed at or being made to feel stupid for something I said or did. To understand and feel these youth inside of me doesn't
require me being African-American or Hispanic. It just required me to get rigorously honest about myself and obtaining a humility
I never had while I was covering up with a superiority complex driven by my fear. It is the desire of my heart to help these kids
through the experience, strength and hope I have gained and train them to discover their giftedness and abilities and how to apply
them to become prosperous contributors to society and serve the purpose God created them uniquely for. Of equal importance will be
the training of how to give back moving from "Takers" to "Givers.”
The purpose of The Dennie Welsh Business & Ethics Urban/Suburban Initiative is dedication to the educational and vocational growth
of at-risk children through promoting highly ethical living and excellence. This initiative will target high-risk children in the
county. Some of the initiative’s components include life coaching for youth in the areas of skill development, financial basics, business
basics, business development and reaching out to others who are where they were.
This initiative’s design combines the knowledge and skills of suburbia with the rigorous faith and personal transparency of the urban community. It brings Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. to a culture that may never see their state college. In essence, it’s about rigorous honesty combined with abandoned faith leading to a degree earned from the University of The Have-Nots from which suburbia could benefit from attending a semester or two. Together they develop a unity of cultural collaboration which develops a complete people lacking in nothing. We build upon the discipline, ethics, and excellence in Dennie Welsh’s life and upon the philosophy most high-risk families experience in parallel in the lives of suburbia, i.e., seeing one another as one, with (while not identical) multiple and interrelated life challenges. These multifaceted challenges require a comprehensive approach of excellence that recognizes and, most importantly, identifies with “haves versus have nots” lives. The following outlines the initiatives components in more detail.
Those kids in the suburbs don’t
get a pass here. Many of them have grown up in an alternate reality of entitlement and most can wait to be sprung from the nest. They’ve
grown up in big houses with overachieving part-time parents trying to fill a void while chasing an ideal they’ll never catch. They
also put part of that ideal on their children’s backs as they leave the nest with no idea of “who” they are. They are then indoctrinated
with radical views by another team of surrogate parents who ignites an misplaced anger and hatred which has been acutely manifested
and turns it chronic.
Business & Ethics
Urban/Suburban Initiative
At one time, the kitchen table was the gathering place for family and friends. The kitchen table was where homework was done, cooking
was learned, discussions were held, and it was the place where “the learnin” took place. In most homes today the kitchen table
has been replaced by a fast food island where we grab something quick and run from task-to-task through our microwaveable lives yet
never seeming to get it all done.
At The Kitchen Table life’s basics are communicated in terms usually related to the youth’s area of giftedness. Coaching these youth by relating their God-given gifts to their giftedness makes it possible for them to visualize “their” life goals and dreams. Relating the competition in sport to the challenges of life trains them to “respond” in a manner they can relate to for the challenges life will send their way. Our motto, “If You Do What Most Won’t – You Will Enjoy What Most Never Will” is especially valuable since learning to take responsibility and play life on life’s terms, straight down the middle without excuses, cheating or mastering spin, will give them the winning edge in the game of life.
In keeping with full disclosure the initiatives noted below are the first choice for collaborative initiatives and are subject to change due to unforseen obstacles we may discover during the due dilligence process.
Discovery Stage: Benchmark 9th and 10th Grades
Skill Training Stage: Benchmark 11th Grade
Internship Stage: Benchmark 12th Grade
