Christmas comes early for vulnerable Motel Drive kids served by Fresno nonprofit | Opinion
Christmas came a week early for Jocelyn Mora, Rocksy Rivera and about 18 other kids living in the Fresno neighborhood infamously known as Motel Drive.
The Old Navy at The Marketplace at El Paseo opens at 9 a.m. But on a recent morning, the store opened an hour early for a special shopping spree organized by a local nonprofit dedicated to bettering and enriching the lives of vulnerable children whose families live in motels along Parkway Drive and nearby neighborhoods.
Jocelyn, 9, knew exactly what she wanted most — boot cut flare jeans with smiley faces printed on them — while Rocksy, 10, had her eye on a certain pair of bell bottom leggings.
With a budget of $200 apiece, the girls were able to get the specific garments they wanted plus several more. The pair exited the store wearing smiles as large as the shopping bags they carried in each hand.
“For some children here today, this is their Christmas,” said Richard Burrell, the founder and executive director of Live Again Fresno. “Inflation is super high. Cost of living is super high. It’s extremely challenging for the parents to figure out. Do I pay the light bill and put groceries in the house? Or do I buy them a gift? That’s a helluva choice to make.
“So if we can figure out a way, with help from our partners, to let kids have this experience, let’s do it.”
Founded in 2011 and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit since 2014, Live Again Fresno is primarily an afterschool program that provides free meals, mentoring, safe play and field trips to places like Fresno Chaffee Zoo, Valley Children’s Stadium for Bulldogs football games and the Sierra Nevada.
Events like last Monday’s shopping spree at Old Navy are a bonus. Besides dealing with food insecurity and growing up in an area littered with prostitution and drug activity — despite city attempts to clean up Motel Drive — many of the kids served by Live Again Fresno don’t have clean clothes to wear to school.
And the clothes they typically have are either donations or hand-me-downs.
“One of the kids said, ‘I feel privileged.’ But they shouldn’t feel privileged to wear clean new clothes,” said JaNessa Williams, the organization’s program manager. “They should just have the opportunity like other kids who get new clothes from their parents for Christmas, and we like to give them those opportunities.”
Several adults, either parent partners and community volunteers, were on hand to help the children shop and ensure the clothing they “buy” is the correct size. But the choices are up to the kids themselves — something Burrell believes is crucial.
‘It’s absolutely beautiful’
“The things that we wear are an expression of us,” he said. “So when the clothing that we get is handed to us in a plastic bag or laid out on a table, given to us by a stranger or handed down by a family member, it’s someone else’s thing. It isn’t really ours.
“But when we get the experience of actually choosing what we wear, to express our own individuality, I think that’s beautiful. It’s absolutely beautiful.”
The story of Live Again Fresno begins with a reformed gang member who grew up in the motels where the children he helps now live. Burrell came from a broken home, endured physical and sexual abuse, got exposed to alcohol and drugs at a young age and was a Fresno Bulldogs gang member for almost 20 years.
After becoming a father, Burrell got himself sober by checking himself into a rehabilitation program where he had a spiritual awakening. But shortly after that, doctors discovered tumors in his intestines.
Laying in bed one night fearful he was going to die, Burrell prayed for God to give him something positive to do with his life. Burrell found what he was seeking when he encountered 30 children living at The Fresno Inn, a motel near Highway 99 and Clinton Avenue that has since been demolished.
The kids were playing kickball in a parking lot that had an open sewer draining into it, which left Burrell startled and dismayed. They were hungry for food and starved for attention, giving Burrell and his wife Roxanne an entry point into their lives by providing them after-school snacks.
After about three months, Burrell gained enough trust of the motel residents to learn why the kids were playing amid such filth: It was the area furthest from a wing where 25 sex offenders were housed.
“Kids shouldn’t have to live like that,” Burrell said.
Nonprofit gets $1M for new home
For the last several years, Live Again Fresno has been headquartered in a small office on Hedges Avenue near Roeding Park that isn’t large enough for the 400 children the nonprofit serves. That will soon change.
In November, state Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula presented Burrell with a $1 million check that will allow Live Again Fresno to purchase a four-acre property on Olive Avenue that features a 7,000-square foot building. The site is conveniently located between the Parkway Drive motels and Jane Addams Elementary, where most of the kids attend school.
“Richard has lived these children’s experiences and has worked tirelessly to provide them a safe haven from the trauma that they have seen in their young lives,” Arambula said. “His leadership and the dedication of the organization’s staff and volunteers have been tremendous. They give these children a strong sense of family and are simply a rock for the community.”
The Christmas shopping spree was sponsored by a local construction company that would prefer to remain a Secret Santa. Bless the firm’s generosity and that of other supporters.
“This is my Christmas,” Burrell said after watching 20 underserved kids exit Old Navy with shopping bags in hand. “This is what makes me happy.”
You can help
For more information or to learn how to volunteer or donate, go to liveagainfresno.org, call (559) 519-3183 or email liveagainfresno@gmail.com.
