Meet Ahommed, at 29 years old his life looks drastically different then it did a few years ago. Ahommed grew up in the West Dallas culture that many of us, myself included, were privileged to not experience.  The infamous "Fish Trap" projects that once framed his life are now gone and so is the life that he once lived. After working with a couple of ex-offender programs and doing various jobs and with work running out, Ahommed ran into Todd Fields, the two had known each other for a couple of years and were friends.  Todd was just starting to wrestle with the idea of a social business model that takes at-risk men like Ahommed and gives them an opportunity to escape the life that so easily entangles those with his background.

Ahommed has an extensive rap sheet that includes the likes of armed robbery, car theft, and evading arrest. Despite this, Todd saw Ahommed as the perfect candidate to pilot this model.  "2ndSaturday provided support and  opportunity" says Ahommed after discussing how something like support, that I personally take for granted, was largely absent while he was growing up. He had no one who cared what or how he was doing at school. No one supported his initial efforts to do good in school, so he felt as though he was laboring in vain.

A high school drop out (see graduation rate at L.G. Pinkston if you want to be startled), the streets quickly adopted him when the boys and girls club was underfunded and had nothing more than video games. Accountability was absent, as was support and a true understanding of faith. Ahommed said "we always had faith, we just didn't understand it" and that is where 2ndSaturday steps in. They offer these men, whom society might deem unemployable and write off as a 'lost cause', a job and a regular bible study that leads to transformation. Ahommed now buys into being the change that he seeks.  He is consistently on mission to be seen working and not out hustling - to show both men and boys in his community that there is another way.

When asked what kind of impact 2ndSaturday has had on his life, Ahommed says "Trouble is always around the corner and I've learned that there is a different side of life - I've started paying bills on time, I've gotten a secured credit card, drivers license, and started cleaning up some things on my credit report so that I can see about buying a home. More important than all of that though is the strength of my relationship with God. I'm constantly getting in the word and trying to learn it better and my faith has grown." 2ndSaturday has made that different side of life possible by developing these men into Christ-centered, working men that now have the ability to place their hope in things other than the streets.

The entire model of 2ndSaturday revolves around the "one person at a time" mentality - from impacting homeowners one by one to transforming the lives of at-risk men, 2ndSaturday is committed to making an impact on the community of West Dallas and that commitment is steadily expanding to other areas of our community that are often forgotten.

So how can you help? 2ndSaturday occurs every month on - you guessed it - the second Saturday of each month. The upcoming one is slated for September 13th followed by another opportunity to serve on September 18th -DonorBridge. DonorBridge occurs from 6:00 AM to Midnight and all donations will be matched by a percentage by the organization. These funds will help us take on more homeowners and purchase necessary tools and gear needed for the social businesses (2S LandCare and 2S Homes).

I will leave you with a quote from Ahommed: “I'm still working on me, I feel more confident since I've been working with 2ndSaturday.  They are working miracles.”

God’s doing incredible things through 2ndSaturday volunteer leaders Taylor and Stefi Massey, a young Plano couple investing their heart and hands in the community transformation happening in South Dallas. They’ve been making an impact on Dallas’ poorest neighborhoods with 2ndSaturday since before they were married. Taylor met Stefi and became friends while studying engineering and served together at One28, a college ministry at SMU. But it was when Taylor gave her his coat while volunteering with a 2ndSaturday partner at a rainy home construction site that Stefi noticed that, “There is something to this guy…”

The Masseys were introduced to 2ndSaturday when One28 arranged for a group of students to volunteer together one weekend. The experience and the relationships they began to build stuck with them.

“Even when One28 didn’t schedule a group for 2ndSaturday, we would get friends to go. Interacting with the volunteers and homeowners continued to draw us back,” said Taylor.

“While I love mission work abroad, I also love the idea that you can engage in the same sort of mission locally, right here in Dallas,” said Stefi

As they continued to serve with 2ndSaturday, Taylor and Stefi fell in love with one South Dallas neighborhood in particular. ‘Bonton’ is a Dallas community whose name is derived from the phrase “Let the good times roll” in French (“Laissez les bons temps rouler”); historically, its residents have often fallen on hard times. The need for opportunity has given rise to the presence of drugs, prostitution and gangs, and those in the community without transportation live over an hour from a legitimate grocery store. But 2ndSaturday’s volunteers and incredible partners are seeing transformation begin to occur.

2ndSaturday partners with the senior-limited-income-disabled community to restore damaged properties for those without the means to do so themselves, and provides opportunities to employ and empower Dallas’ at-risk men in the redemption of neighborhoods they may have once preyed upon. On the second Saturday of every month, volunteers from across the metroplex gather and then scatter to different sites to serve under-resourced homeowners in West and South Dallas.

“It’s so cool to see God at work there. When we went and saw how awesome the community is and what’s happening, we realized that we don’t want to be anywhere else. We’ve gotten to have great conversations, and I know we can do a lot of special things there,” Taylor said.

They’re becoming regulars in Bonton, and the neighborhood is noticing. Once, Taylor’s truck broke down as he was buying supplies while Stefi was stuck in Bonton with a trailer full of equipment. To make sure the trailer didn’t “walk off”, a resident let Stefi hide it in his backyard while the resident’s friend picked up Taylor and towed his car from South Dallas to Plano. “It’s always cool to see the community we’re trying to help reach out and help us.”

As Taylor and Stefi continue to invest their time and marriage together with 2ndSaturday’s work in Dallas’ poorest communities and Bonton, they dream of seeing even greater growth and impact in the days to come.

“I see us moving into more neighborhoods like Bonton, discipling more at-risk men and helping them take next-steps in different ways as the needs change.”

Before getting married 3 years ago, the Masseys were given some great advice.

“If you’re going to serve, have a place where you serve together.”

Want to be a part of the extraordinary things happening through ordinary folks in neighborhoods across Dallas? Come serve with us at one of 2ndSaturday’s monthly events or support a project in an under-resourced neighborhood. serve@2ndsaturday.org