" I hear gunshots going through my door- bang bang. I see people crying and tying people up."

They're the voices of children.

" I cry because of where I live. I am a strong black girl who survived the streets of Rochester."

Reading their own words.

"I pretend to ride a motorcycle to get away. I feel sad because people are dying."

Poetry from the heart of the city.  This spring something remarkable happened in Heather O'Reilly's 4th grade class at School #6.  A routine lesson on writing poetry produced results no one was expecting.  These 9 and 10 year olds wrote about what it's like to live on streets riddled with crime and poverty.

"It had a lot to do with the violence in the community, more so this year than in previous years," says O'Reilly.  "And some kids that weren't normally my best writers came out with some very moving pieces."  
"I am a man who survived the streets of the gangs. I wonder if I will live long enogh. I hear bullets telling me to run as fast as I can."     

Jahmeic Hunter and Taivon Phipps are just two of these extraordinary poets.  Both live in the shadow of violence. 

"Some of what you write in that poem is kind of scary stuff," Maureen asks the boys.  "Do you know that? Why did you write about that?"  "It was scary," says Jahmeic.   "I used to live on Watkins Terrace and people used to shoot at each other and kill each other."  "My uncle got shot 9 times and after that the man who shot him came and shot at our doors," says Taivon.  "What did you do?" Maureen asks.  Taivon says, "I had to use my friend's phone to call for help." "Who'd you call?" "The police."

And no one's more moved by these kids than the police who patrol their neighborhoods. 

"I pretend that I am in a better place," reads 4th grader Brooklyn Lawson.  Not long after the poems were written, Officers Manny Ortiz and Angel Vasquez were invited to school to listen.  "I worry that I won't survive the way I want to. I cry because of where I live,"  Brooklyn reads.

"That's the worst part of our job to see kids, anyone, to see chidren, the way violence affects them," says Officer Ortiz.

So a poetry reading turns into a talk about dreams for the future.  "You may want to be a writer some day, and end up writing stories for them, Channel 8, or the newspaper," Officer Vasquez tells the kids.  "You continue to write the way you're doing now, there's nothing that can stop you." 

"At the end of the day, everything they've been through, they are just kids," says O'Reilly.   "I think they get a bad rap, that the kids, they don't know how to learn, that they're not respectful, and they are." 

"So are you going to keep writing?" Maureen asks the Jahmeic. "Yes."  "I hope so!"

"I say my prayers to God. I dream that the violence will stop trying to get in. I try not to scream. I hope that my dreams will come true." 

"I say I could leave one day. I dream everything will be all right. I try not to let it get to me. I hope one day I could leave this place." 

"I try to stop people from fighting. I hope the fighting stops. I am a man that survived the streets of Rochester."

To read all of the poems by 4th graders at Rochester's School #6, click here.   The project, called Write From The Heart, has poems from children and letters to Santa.

Click here for more information about volunteering your time at Rochester city schools.

There are other volunteer opportunities as well:

Click here to volunteer at Baden Street, or contact Ron Thomas at (585) 325-4910 EXT 101.

Click here to volunteer with the Boys and Girls Club of Rochester, or contact Koralee Bernardo at (585) 328-3077.

Click here for information about volunteer opportunities with the Monroe Co. Library system, or call (585) 428-8450.

Call (585) 271-6513 for volunteer opportunities with the Third Presbyterian Church, which supports tutoring programs at School #6 and School #35.

You can also make a tax-deductible donation to the Third Presbyterian Church, at:
School #6 Fund 4
Meigs St.
Rochester, NY 14607.
Make sure to note that this is for the School #6 fund.