James Encinas at Cherokee Point El: Compassion IS Care

Rider for Change James Encinas arrived by mountain bike at Cherokee Point Elementary in San Diego's City Heights Friday May 2 at 2:30 pm to the delight of about a hundred students who stayed after school with parents and a half-dozen visitors from ACEsConnection from around southern California. (James with community leader Dana Brown and the bike)

We found Principal Godwin Higa personally unloading 8 huge pallets of food (one pallet shown at left) donated to the school for students and their families, then followed as James wheeled his all-terrain bike to the front of the auditorium.

Mr. Higa and Dana worked with the kids the whole week before, to line the school auditorium stage with dozens of drawings the kids did of James and his mission to welcome him (kids at left with many of the colored sheets tacked to stage; sample poster below).

The kids all lined up in their spiffy colored vests (by grade) and quietly sat down in a more organized way than at most elementaries.

James revealed that he's not just going 700 miles -- his plan is to go the whole 3,000 miles from Le Grand High near Sacramento, all the way to Philadelphia on the Atlantic. He'll take the southern route through Texas and Louisiana, then follow the "river of tears," the Underground Railway route by which African Americans escaping slavery crossed north to freedom before and during the Civil War.

James' ride was inspired by the work of Echo Parenting and Education, Los Angeles, after he heard Echo founder Ruth Beaglehole's impassioned plea for action at Echo's Feb. 25-6 Developmental Trauma annual conference. Funds raised by his ride go to Echo Parenting.

The kids were truly present with James (with Mr. Higa at right) as he told them why he's riding to bring awareness of child trauma and how to use compassion to heal families all across the southern U.S., speaking of his own personal childhood traumas and hurts, and how he had to really change his life to heal. You could see how the kids were struck by how vulnerable James got with them.

James talked about what he didn't get as a kid, especially the Full Frame Initiative’s "Five Domains of Wellbeing" - Safety, Stability, Social Connectedness, Mastery, and Meaningful Access to relevant resources.

And he kept stressing: We're not here to make the kids do anything like "grades or else," or to "fix" the kids - we're here to bring Compassion with a capital "C".

We want to know what kids are feeling, how they're hurting, what they're thinking, what they need, and then we want to provide resources for learning. Compassion IS Care, and then --once the kids feel safe -- they'll just want to learn more than anything in the world.

James stayed at the school next day for the May 3 Compassion Day in which the school hosted the entire City Heights community to learn about compassionate care for human beings as what we're really on Earth to do! We look forward to his report.

Last photo shows Principal Higa, Dana and James, tired but happy at 5 pm May 2, leaving the school entrance for dinner (which I was also privileged to attend). More of this report and more photos to come.