On Monday afternoon, April 9, the sun was shining and the kids at the Market Street Youth Center were coming and going as usual. There was a relaxed game of basketball going on out back, on the third floor two boys were playing x-box, and on the second floor, there was a group working on art projects and homework. But this was a special day for the kids at the youth center, because this afternoon, they had a visit from Senator Tom Carper.

With his foot in a cast, and making his way around the center on crutches, he toured the center, cracked jokes with the kids and met the staff and several volunteers and Board members. “Hi, my name is Tom” he said as he introduced himself to each and every one of the kids. He met Dante next to the pool table and asked him, “Why do they call you Dante?” When Dante looked puzzled and answered, “Because that’s my first name” they both started laughing like it was the funniest thing they’d heard all week.

In spite of his cast, Senator Carper made his way to the second floor of the center, where about 20-25 kids sat down and listened intently as he told them, “I don’t think of myself as a politician, I think of myself as a servant.” He went on to tell the story of Jesus instructing the disciples it was better to be a servant than to be served from the 22nd chapter of Luke.

The Market St. Center has a strong Student Leadership group who’d prepared several questions, and after Senator Carper taught them how to give a good handshake, he told them that if they would do four things in life, they would be successful in whatever they set out to do:
1. Always do what’s right
2. Always do your best
3. Treat other people the way you want to be treated
4. Never give up

He spoke about how he’d been involved in Youth for Christ growing up in Virginia, what it was like to work with the president and what it takes to be successful. Altogether, he spent about an hour talking and visiting with the kids in the youth center, and afterwards he joined Mike and Tevin for a slice of Domino’s pizza and an Acme-brand lemon-lime soda. We’re honored that the Senator took time out of his schedule to visit the center, and I noticed that after he left, several of the young people were still talking about what he’d said. And they were talking about what they could achieve in their lives. It was a tremendous opportunity for the student leaders, and I know it challenged them to think big.