It’s something only our God could do.

It began with a woman named Sarah who walked past a place she walked past all the time. For some reason though, this time she noticed something different, something she hadn’t noticed before, but something that had been there every time she walked by. Sarah noticed kids. Not just kids. Sarah noticed street kids. In their tattered jeans, baggy sweat shirts, worn out hack y sacks, and dirty back packs. She saw them sitting around on park benches. Saw them talking and jamming. Saw them playing hack y-sack. But Sarah saw more than that.

She saw their need.

There was a problem though. Sarah wasn’t rich. She didn’t have a lot of money. She wasn’t gifted or talented. She didn’t have much to give. She didn’t have anything to identify with them.

But she did have Jesus.

After that day, after walking by that same square, Sarah decided to do something about their need. So she did.

She baked chocolate chip cookies.

No one says no to chocolate chip cookies, she thought. So she baked chocolate chip cookies, packed them in zip lock baggies, and piled them in a box.

When Sarah returned to the square, she didn’t walk past anymore. Instead, she handed out her chocolate chip cookies. What she had thought was true. The kids didn’t say no. They eyed her. They gave her looks. They even asked who she thought she was showing up there. Sarah wasn’t afraid. She just told them, “I’m here to give you cookies.”

Every week Sarah would take several days to give homemade chocolate chip cookies to the street kids. Every week for almost two years. At first, no one wanted to pay any attention to her. They took the cookies and went on their way. But after some time, the street kids started paying attention. They started asking her questions, and she started answering them. Soon, the street kids and Sarah would have conversations. Soon, the street kids asked Sarah why she did what she did. And Sarah explained. “Jesus wants to be here. So He sent me.”

(Sarah is a private citizen Revolutionary Media hopes to profile in their upcoming documentary series, Burnside Underground, addressing the stories of street kids and ways ordinary people can reach out to them. Part II and III of this story coming soon.)

Written by Christina N Dickson
Director of Revolutionary Media

Revolutionary Media is proud to present their first project! We have confirmed the details of the "Burnside Underground" Film that we will be working on in this coming March.

Vision statement:

The goal of Revolutionary Media is to affect the world through artistic media by bringing hope and encouragement abroad while imparting vision at home. We desire to show viewers what it means to “love your neighbor” and inspire them to reach out to people within their own communities.

Summary:

Project: Through the use of photography and video, the Revolutionary Media creative team will produce three documentaries that shed light on the runaway street teen population of the United States. Using Portland, Oregon as their base, they will show how these teenagers are living, what brought them to the streets and how community members are helping get them back on track.

Vision: Everyone has the capacity to reach out to their neighbors. The purpose of these documentaries is for every viewer to catch a glimpse of how they can reach out in their own community.

Objective: With over 2.5 million teenagers running away from home each year, the population of street teens is rising. American teenagers have the opportunity to help their friends who are at risk and prevent them from becoming another statistic.

Project Plans:

Documentary Production will last from March 9^th-April 4^th. During these three weeks, the media team will be split into three smaller sub-teams, each working on their own documentary. The size of these sub-teams will range from 3-5 members.

Each week the teams will hit the streets of Portland, partnering with existing ministries and individuals to meet with runaways where they live. Much of the work will be centered around the Burnside area, Pioneer Courthouse Square and other prime downtown locations. Coverage will include histories of the runaways, profiles of what their life on the street consists of, interviews with people working with them and interviews with former runaways who are now off the street. Viewers will also be encouraged to get involved with helping the runaways in their own town.

The Postproduction of the Portland films will take place from April 5^th-25^th. The documentaries will be submitted to various independent film festivals across North America. During this time, a coffee-table book featuring portraits and stories of the runaway teens will be put together.

Distribution: The Revolutionary Media documentaries and portrait book will be made available for product and online digital purchase through area retailers. Revolutionary Media is pursing a partnership with a national retailer and hopes to secure a partnership with them soon.

The still images will be collected for Revolutionary Media gallery exhibits, gallery prints and purchase online.

Marketing: Revolutionary Media seeks to raise awareness and support of their ventures through media usage and the patronage of local businesses. They are working to secure articles in national magazines as well as local newspapers to highlight the causes they are creating awareness for. A website has been launched to help promote awareness of the documentaries.

Project Details:

Burnside Underground: Home to bums, prostitutes, a skate park and a Saturday market, Burnside is one of the main thoroughfares of Portland. Join us as we travel this road—and a few others—to find out what life is like for a runaway street teen. Viewers will see what life is like for these teens: the ache of an empty belly, the scramble to find a dry place to sleep on a wet Portland night and what “family” means when you’ve left yours miles behind.

Ragamuffin Rescue: What does it take to take someone off the street and into a loving environment? For many of the street teens, the path off the street is long and hard. They have continual struggles to discover what “normal” is and how to relate to the world around them. We’ll show you a few organizations who are reaching past the stereotypes and giving these kids what they need: love.

Runaway Street: What can you do to help runaway street teens? Does your responsibility start when you see them on the street or before they’ve left home and need someone’s shoulder to cry on? In this documentary, we will show you different ways that you can get involved in the life of a street teen. We’ll also challenge you to rethink spending time with your “needy” friends. After all, they just might need you.