A Giving Tuesday Story: Faces OF Abundant Life, Jamaala Hamilton

How long have you been in the Prospect Avenue community; What was it like then?

Since I was sixteen my mom had a house on Rock Creek, and at that time Prospect was separated. At that time, Rydell and Mrs. Dequita ran Abundant Life, and I would catch the bus over here because I knew everybody, though I was never really in Abundant Life.

They used to go to King’s Dominion and Watercountry, and it was just about every kid; a friend would tell a friend. Ralph would get donated computers from different places, fix them up, and give them to the kids, and everyone had one. There was just a lot more going on in the community back then, and it was a lot more family-oriented where everyone knew everybody.

How have you seen the Neighborhood change? If you’ve seen the neighborhood change, do you feel as if it’s changed in a more positive way?

It’s going in a more positive direction, it’s more diverse now than it ever was before. Anyone can live in this neighborhood now, whereas before if you were white or Hispanic, you just couldn’t live here, only black people lived here. So in that way, it’s changed- I think it’s better.

Keep doing what you guys are doing. These kids actually really need it. A lot of kids don’t have their mom or their dad or grandparents or aunts or uncles- so just this little bit of support to help the parents get their lives together while their kids are doing something really helps out.

So I know that your kids have been in Abundant Life for a while, can you talk about how Abundant Life has come alongside your family?

I’m a single mother of 5 and [Abundant Life] really helped with Afterschool with more one-on-one with tutoring. [Being a single mother] I have to help everybody, and you guys might see something that I might have missed and can pay more attention to. I mean just the support, like if I don’t have a ride to get the kids from school, I can call Mr. Bruce or I can call you. It’s like a family to me, honestly.

Did you have a particular child that was struggling in one area?

I think DeWayne is the main one. He was in his shell, and he didn’t have his dad whereas the other kids did. So for him, Abundant Life is an outlet where he can see men who are doing strong things. He could see, “oh, it’s not just women that are doing these things, there are men that do some stuff.” It was good for him to see that there are men and women that work with children, and it’s not just a mom’s job, it’s everyone’s job.

You have been an awesome parent to Abundant Life, and your family won the Outstanding Family Award in January. How have things been since then? It seems like you’re really getting involved with the ministry.

I didn’t know, even being in the neighborhood, about all the things that Abundant Life does until my kids were involved. Growing up, I saw all my friends being in it, but because I always went to Church I didn’t really understand that this is more of a ministry and not just a babysitter. Abundant Life opened my eyes to see what the ministry part is outside of Church and what we learn about in Church.

What are you most excited about in terms of the future of the community and the future of Abundant Life; what would you like to see us do?

Because I also work in Prospect at the apartments, I want to see more of the other community agencies come alongside you all. You all do an amazing job, and I can’t even bring it into words. I want see some of these other agencies to get in with you guys- with the resources that you have and the resources that they have, there shouldn’t be any reason why we can’t do anything that we want to do in this community. We should be doing everything- we should be building things, we should be having a fun day, we should be having adult tutoring. Everyone should be getting together and doing the footwork to make it all come together.

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