By JENNIFER 8. LEE, Published 2009.01.06T
I'm a sucker for heart-touching stories, but I like to be reminded of the good that's in the world.
Jun Chen was abandoned by her disconnected father, who left to go back to China, when she was starting her senior year of high school this past September. But thankfully, she had other support in New York City: the staff and community at the Edgies Teen Center at the Educational Alliance. She has been to the center for three years after a librarian told her about it. The center does help Jun with paying for rent and food, but equally important are the social connections that the center and Jun have made.
At the bottom of the news page is a donation link to help fund organizations like these.“This is my first home; I don’t call it a second home, because my family is here,” she said. “There are so many nights when I stay until the building closes down.”
On a yellow sheet of paper, she drew an alternative family tree: Lily, her girlfriend; Sonia, the mom; Chino, the dad; Ami, the older sister. The last three are all staff at the center.
It is through them that she built her personal identity. “I wrote my college essay bout being a quarter Chinese, quarter black, quarter Dominican, and quarter Indian,” she said. It helped her earn a full scholarship to Middlebury College in Vermont.
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