Can't Have Our Independent Choices Endangering Society
C.H.O.I.C.E.S. YOUTH OUTREACH
C.H.O.I.C.E.S. Youth Outreach is a three-phase program that stresses the impact of the daily choices that young people make and empowers them to develop the inner strength needed to make solid choices in spite of peer pressure and other obstacles that they may face in their daily lives.
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C.H.O.I.C.E.S. is an acronym for Can't Have Our Independent Choices Endangering Society. The program started in 1996 when Carl Cannon was a Correctional Officer at the federal prison in Pekin, IL. He was good at keeping people in, but it suddenly became more important to him to keep people out. The prisoners were coming in younger and younger and he needed advice on how to keep them out, so he went to the experts...the inmates.They all had regrets and they shared those regrets with Carl. The program uses those regrets and shares them with the C.H.O.I.C.E.S. youth. Three hundred thousand (300,000) kids later, they are armed with a message of empowerment that they share with the program kids. "Where are we at today? Again, 300,000 youths later, we’re in demand all over," states Carl. He is going to Washington, D.C. in August 2009 to share the C.H.O.I.C.E.S. concept. He wants the C.H.O.I.C.E.S. program in every park district throughout the nation. "You can do this yourself and we can help."
“Equipment” by Edgar A. Guest
Figure it out for yourself, my lad, You’ve all that the greatest of men have had, Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes; And a brain to use if you would be wise, With this equipment they all began.
So start for the top and say, “I can”, Look them over the wise and great, They take their food from a common plate, And similar knives and forks they use, With similar laces they tie their shoes, The world considers them brave and smart, But you’ve all they had when they made their start.
You can triumph and come to skill, You can be great if you only will You’re well equipped for what fight you choose, You have arms and legs and a brain to use, And the man who has risen great deeds to do Began his life with no more than you.
You are the handicap you must face, You are the one who must choose our place You must say where you want to go, How much you student the truth to know; God has equipped you for life, but He Lets you decide what you want to be.
Courage must come from the soul within The man must furnish the will to win. So figure it out for yourself, my lad You were born with all that the great have had, With your equipment they all began, Get hold of yourself and say: “I can.”
