Holiday festivities can feel jarring when you’re going through a hard time. From seasonal depression brought on by darker days to the ache of missing loved ones, the holiday season can hold mixed emotions.
In my role at The Grapevine’s Avenue A Teen Center, I work with some of the most-resilient people – adolescents. Teens have taught me a lot about holding hope in dark times. Last year, teens from our Write Out! program wrote poems for Hancock’s Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. As part of the project, we reflected on King’s hopeful spirit. One of our writers, Jay, wrote about how they kindle their own sense of hope during difficult times:
“Hope is not always seeing the stars or the light at the end of the tunnel.
It’s feeling the warmth of the winter sun.
Hope comes from a cat’s purr.
A song you feel in your soul.
A comfortable night.
Hope is the quiet thought that you can do something after a long month.
Hope is putting that first finger out from the covers to get out of bed.”
Jay’s words stuck with me. Hope is an expansive feeling, yet it’s often found in small moments and actions. If you’re ready to “do something after a long month” as Jay puts it, I have a few ideas, inspired by our teens.
Recently, I asked a new teen at Avenue A why they decided to come to our programs. The teen explained that they need to get out more, because they don’t have a lot of friends. They heard about Avenue A at school, so they decided to show up. Whether it’s the penchant for socialization that comes with adolescence or the exploratory nature of youth, teens have an innate longing to find community. The need for community is not something we grow out of, but sometimes I think teens are better at searching for community than adults.
A simple way to make community is by attending a local community supper. Teens from our Avenue A cooking group (affectionately dubbed T.A.C.O) helped the Antrim-Bennington Lions Club cook Antrim’s November supper. The room was filled with the happy hum of conversation and companionship as folks of all ages chatted over dinner. Bennington’s community suppers are the second Thursday of the month at Pierce School. Antrim’s are the third Thursday of the month at the Antrim Presbyterian Church. Peterborough’s suppers happen every Tuesday at Reynolds Hall, hosted by All Saints Church. Suppers start at 5:30 p.m.
Helping with community suppers is just one of the ways that teens at Avenue A give back. Whether they are performing a Lawn Chair Drill Team routine for nursing home residents, building a fence for The Grapevine play yard or sitting with a friend in need of support, our teens thrive when they have opportunities to share with others.
If you’re interested in giving back this season, our region is filled with wonderful nonprofits that would welcome your help. Here at Avenue A, we rely on a team of over 50 volunteers to make our programs happen. For young people in our community, it means a lot knowing that adults step forward to support them and make a place like Avenue A possible. Volunteers gain from the experience too.
“The resilience, humor, honesty, strength and courage of everyone I’ve been blessed to volunteer with at Avenue A has given back to me far more than I could ever give of myself,” says Mark Hatch, a volunteer from Hancock.
Maybe your journey toward hope looks like trying something new this season, or maybe it’s just getting out of bed this morning. Either way, I think you’ll find that Jay’s right. Hope starts small. It’s in community suppers, rooms filled with teenagers and moments shared with others.
If you’re looking for resources or support, Be the Change – Behavioral Health Task Force and the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript work together to publish a support group/resource guide which is available at their office on Grove Street in Peterborough. The River Center maintains an online fact book with area resources at rivercenternh.org/fact-book.
After a hiatus during the height of the pandemic, Be the Change is again active in the community. Thank you to the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript for allowing this to be a platform to share, educate and promote wellness. If you would like to get involved and be a part of our effort, please contact John Letendre at 603-354-5454, Ext. 2378, or jletendre@cheshire-med.com.
Jacqueline Roland is director of teen programs at The Grapevine Family & Community Resource Center and a member of Be the Change – Behavioral Health Task Force, which is comprised of concerned citizens and organizations in western Hillsborough County focused on educating and promoting local resources for prevention, treatment and recovery from substance use disorders and behavioral health challenges.