END OF LINE FOR FRESH START
YOUTH PROGRAM HOMELESS AFTER DARBY SELLS BUILDING FOR A BUCK
A SEPTA trolley rolls past the Fresh Start program in Darby Borough. The building was sold to SEPTA for $1 by the borough.
DARBY BOROUGH >> Struggling to keep her composure, Leslie Lewis stood inside what used to be the headquarters of her Fresh Start Program as the smell of mold permeated 11 N. Ninth St. and debris was strewn everywhere.
The youth tutoring and summer-camp program that she began about 15 years ago when her son, Kenny Swinton, was in high school came to an abrupt end last summer after borough officials decided to sell the office to SEPTA for $1.
Since then, Lewis had been trying to get into the building to remove the program items such as computers, files, books and other equipment but was not allowed access until Thursday, when she saw the damage inside.
“It’s tearful,” Lewis said. “If we had gotten in here when we were trying to get in here, we would have gotten all of this stuff out of here.”
SEPTA officials onsite claimed the damage was related to water and pipe damage and that they had first gotten into the facility Friday. SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch said the agency’s board approved the purchase on Oct. 25 so it can house electrical equipment to support the trolley system, which has a large depot right next to the building.
“It was sold to SEPTA as a vacant property,” he said. “Anything inside was supposed to be removed prior to SEPTA taking ownership of the property.”
Several attempts to reach Darby Borough Mayor Helen Thomas and borough council members as well as the police chief were unsuccessful.
Lewis’s son, Kenny Swinton, was in the 10th grade when he and his mom found themselves in a courtroom.
“He was 75 days truant and I went in front of the judge and I said if you give me 30 days, I’ll design a program to hold the school accountable for our children,” Lewis said.
Although she said she didn’t know what she was doing, she quit her job as director of activities at St. Ignatius Nursing Home and asked then-state Rep. Ron Waters for $500 in seed money to start the program.
It started in Yeadon Borough Hall and grew to provide tutoring, mentoring, after-school activities and a low-cost summer camp for more than 80 children a year.
Every year, Lewis would have a graduation party for program participants finishing high school.
“Every year, I give them their big graduation party and I do it as if they’re going to the White House,” Lewis said. “Let the kids know they’re important. They are the special ones. They are the future.”
They even raised funds for a Mount Airy youth whose wheelchair was stolen and helped Thomas get to a prom.
“Even though we had to leave, this should’ve been something good,” Lewis said. “It should’ve been a better transition. It shouldn’t have been hurtful to this degree. They owned this building so they had a right to do whatever they wanted but you should’ve at least sat down and said something and they didn’t.”
After that courtroom appearance, Lewis learned there were many other students in her son’s position, Waters said.
“She quit her job,” he said. “She had a vision ... She quit and dedicated her life to this mission right here – trying to help give children the tutoring and supports that they need so they can do better.”
Waters also said Lewis would make courtroom appearances for the youth.
“A lot of the kids, she didn’t even know ‘em but she would go over there,” he said. “She would go to the court and talk to the judge. The child’s parent might not have even been there but Leslie was standing there, saying, ‘Give that child to me.’”
Waters said the Fresh Start Program addressed a vulnerable population.
“You’re talking about children growing up who are right at that at-risk age,” he said. “If you don’t get a hold of them now, get their attention now, they could be a threat, maybe, maybe not. We say, ‘Go to Yale and not to jail ... Get a Fresh Start in life.’”
Waters added that Lewis and her program provided something very meaningful and needed in these youths’ lives.
“There’s no throw-away children,” Waters said. “Throw-away children just need to know that somebody cares. That can make all the difference in the world. If you’re walking around and you don’t know where your next meal is coming from, you don’t have no one to talk to but someone on the streets … now, what do you do? It’s nice to know that you got a mother figure that you can come to and talk to. Leslie wasn’t just a mother to her children, she was a mother to all those children.”
Gloria Yarborough said her son, Michael, was a former Fresh Start participant who was on the verge of being kicked out of school.
“He was having issues with his behavior,” she said. “When he came here, his grades went all the way up to an A. Now, he goes to Temple University for engineering and he also joined the United States Army.”
She said Lewis saved her and him.
“She really helped,” Yarborough said. “She saved a lot of kids ... I feel as though a lot of kids is going to be lost. She helped a lot of kids. It’s a shame this program is gone. Where’s our kids going to go? You tore down something so strong and so positive. You tore it down. It’s sad. It’s sad. I don’t know where our kids going now. Where?”
Latoya Roberts of Collingdale, who started coming to Fresh Start about a year ago after her brother, Lester, was disappointed to hear about the program’s closing.
“He had a lot of issues at school and he was getting help so I was like, ‘I should try it,’” she said. “So, I came here.”
So, she then started coming to the camp and basketball outings and other activities.
“When I heard that it was shutting down, I was so surprised about it,” the 12-year-old said. “It means a lot to me because there was a lot of issues and I could’ve held a fund raiser. I would’ve helped out.”
With no replacement location imminent, the program’s future is uncertain.
“Right now with everything going on, everything is just so overwhelming right now,” Lewis said. “There was no reason this should have had happened ... Now, we look at the kids. What do we do with the kids?”
For her, that’s all that matters. “Right now,” Lewis said, “I just want to focus on the kids and letting them know that we still support them in their education, regardless of whatever all this nonsense was … We’re going to continue to support them 100 percent. We’re not going to let anybody get in the way of that.”