When I came to Connecticut from New York
City, I found there were two teen shelters in the town for girls who ran away
from home or who could not live in their home environment.
I volunteered there for many years as a
mentor, singing for the girls, helping with homework,
providing a home environment on holidays, providing a safe place
when they ran away. It was for those shelters that I did my
first benefit show, bringing together many artists for the cause.
That became an ongoing effort, and ten years later, became what is now the
LUNCH
organization. To this day, one of my very best guitar students was a
girl from the shelter.
In the years that I volunteered at
the homes, the stories the girls told me about their lives became the
songs on my
Cityscape CD which has since been used
as a suicide prevention resource.
One perspective that was not included on
that CD was that of the social workers who worked tirelessly and often
thanklessly at the shelters, essentially being surrogate parents to the girls
there. After 5 years, one of the caregivers at the homes
informed me she would be moving on to other things. As I sat
that evening in a quiet library, I thought about all the things she must have
felt but could not say to the girls in her care.
"The Dream Held In Your Eyes" was written then,
from the perspective of the caregivers, drawing on the thoughts and
feelings they shared with me many times. It was not written in time to get onto
the original Cityscape CD, but it is appropriate for the
"Dare to
Dream" collection.
Prior to its release in "Dare to Dream" it was
performed live just once, with string ensemble, at the final benefit
concert we did for the homes.
( Lyrics )
You can get the song on
i-Tunes
or
from the CD
"Dare to Dream"
|