Author: Carrie Hamlett – Eden High School Social Studies teacher
For the past two summers I have been a volunteer at the Seneca-Babcock reading camp. The kids range from 5 to 14 and it is a two week free camp run by the Seneca Street Church. It’s a funny drive down Seneca. I pass Chef’s and DiTondo’s, well known restaurants downtown, and drive thru Larkinville an amazing and vibrant new area where people pour in for Food Truck Tuesdays and Music on Wednesdays. I then cross Smith street and drive over the train tracks into a completely different world.
When jobs left during the rust belt era (and with it many people), the congregation went from over 100 people in size to about a dozen. 24 years ago, Cheryl Bird and her husband were sent to close this church. They soon realized how disastrous that would be for one of the poorest neighborhoods Buffalo.
90% of the kids in the Seneca Babcock Community qualify for reduced lunches. The children of Seneca Babcock have numerous social and academic issues in their lives. “They are gorgeous kids who need a lot of love in their lives” as Pastor Brian said. One girl I met had moved 19 times just in this neighborhood alone and other children couch surf for a place to sleep at night. 40% live with one parent and 10% have a parent in prison. Another boy I met wore the same shirt all week and he was clearly being neglected. Many children have parents who have died of overdoses or are in rehab or lack any financial means. The community has the highest rate of asthma in Erie county.
Cheryl and Pastor Brian Rotach somehow managed to keep it open for the children. Because the community surrounding it could not sustain its finances, they fortunately adopted it. They paid the heating bills and have funded a lot of renovations.They also funded the summer reading camp. In addition, the church helps to run the after school tutoring program. Cheryl and Brian dedicated their lives in creating an organization so kids could get free lunches and access public funding using the church building (normally churches can’t). And, they enlisted other churches in the area to help support the church so it stayed open.
24 years later, it is still open and has seen solid results. From barely any high school graduates (mainly the children go to South Park), they’re now getting double digit graduates along with some attending and even completing college. The Mayor’s Summer Youth Program actually hires kids who went through the reading program themselves for their first job. One reading instructor with me named Maggie went through program and is starting at UB this fall – she was her high school’s valedictorian. Their programs are working!
And then you cross over and see so much money being put into the Larkinville area and it just saddens me we don’t do more for the poorest kids in this city. Maybe once a summer on food truck night at Larkinville all the trucks and the bar could donate 10% of their proceeds to help fund this organization. I fell in love with this place and its people two years ago and hope to continue my work there.
Tracks shouldn’t separate our city. If you are so inclined to help contact Cheryl Bird at cbird@daemen.edu. If you would like to make a donation for the reading camp, it can be made to Seneca Street Church, 1218 Seneca Street, Buffalo, NY 14210.