Working with her brother and sister, our guest blogger Deborah McDonald helped to start Operation Timothy, an after school tutoring program designed to keep students from falling behind in school and dropping out.  Operation Timothy is a ministry of David’s Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Tanner, Alabama.

I was born and raised in a small rural community in Alabama. I was raised in a large family by two loving parents. Having parents like mine made the difference in our lives. We didn’t have a lot of material things, but we had two people that knew what we needed to grow and survive in this world. They stressed education.   If you are educated you can go places and become a productive citizen rather than a burden to your community and society, they would say. They were loving and nurturing, but they were also tough. My parents loved life, God and they loved to see us do well in school. They provided the guidance, time and attention that we needed at the stages in our lives that we needed it.

Not all kids have the parents that my sisters and brothers and I had, this is why we do what we do. In the community that we live in there are many children in single parent homes, kids in homes where education is not a priority, they don’t get enough time and attention at home, therefore they don’t do well at school. A lot of people will say this is because they are low income as well, but we were low income and we succeeded.   Income alone is not the problem. Children that grow up in families where there is not enough nurturing, emphasis on education and low income are “at risk” of dropping out of school and becoming a burden to society.

My older brother and sister saw many children in our community from these homes, the high school dropout rate was very high and we decided that we needed to do something.  We were blessed with good parents so we wanted to give back to the community. We started an after school program that we named “Operation Timothy.” We offer tutoring, mentoring and one on one attention to children that are “at risk” in our community. We believe that if we can make a difference in one of these kids lives it will be worth it. “Operation Timothy” has been in operation for six years and has been very successful. The community has embraced us and we are giving these kids what they need to succeed.

At the Dekko Foundation our ways of thinking have been changed by two big books and a little story.

The first book that’s impacted us is Toxic Charity, by Robert Lupton.  It’s a quick read…maybe two hours start to finish. The reason we liked it so much is that a lot of Lupton’s beliefs match up with those of Mr. Dekko, our founder.    Lupton states, “Giving to those in need, what they could be gaining from their own initiative may well be the kindest way to destroy people.”  If you’re in the business of helping people help themselves, you’ll want to pick up Toxic Charity.

The Coming Jobs War is the second book on our minds.  It was written by Jim Clifton, the CEO of Gallop (yes, the poll people).  Clifton’s premise is that a global jobs war is coming.  Leaders of countries and cities, Clifton says, should focus on creating good jobs because as good jobs go, so goes the fate of nations.  Again, there’s a tie-in to our mission of fostering economic freedom through education.  We’re helping people and organizations instill great skills, knowledge and character in young people.   That way they’ll be ready to take on those new jobs and build strong communities.

Finally, there’s a little story that we return to again and again.  We like it because it points out the difference, and the tension, between emotion-based charity and critical social change.  It’s the ancient folktale of Babies in the River.  You heard us…babies in the river!  If you have a few minutes, search for the parable and read it to understand what we’re talking about.

Use our comment section to let us know what’s making YOU think!