Don't Drop Out! Grab A Book!

It saddens me whenever I learn of a kid dropping out of school because I know that the chances are high that he or she may trade their schoolbooks for a gun. And gang leaders just love it when their neighborhood has a high percentage of dropouts because it gives them a good supply of non-thinking followers. We must do whatever we can to keep our kids in school and not let them become easy prey out on the street.

I constantly meet concerned adults who tell me that they really want to do something to make their street, their block, or whole city better, and they often say something like “I want to help make my block safer but I’m just one person, I can’t make a difference.” And then I happily tell them that I used to think that same way quite some years ago, and then I became an absolute believer in the fact that one person can certainly make a difference. My beliefs changed when I’d handed a female gang member a book and she told me a couple years later how that book had changed her life. - Randolph Randy CampRandolph Randy Camp