Lucinda and Rob Boyd of The Streets Don't Love You "Back intervention program host an annual toy drive.

For Rob and Lucinda Boyd, the run up to Christmas this year has been particularly hectic.

Their nonprofit The Streets Don’t Love You Back (TSDLYB) is in the middle of its annual Christmas toy drive.  The program is also in talks to take a big step forward in its effort to keep younth away from gangs, drugs and crime.

The toy drive is in its eighth year. TSDLYB is accepting toys through Dec. 20.

“The first year we did it out here, I think we had eight kids; two or three different families,” Lucinda Boyd said. “We went to each house with our Santa sack. That’s how we did it the first couple of years. We couldn’t do that anymore.”

She estimates last year’s drive served 100 kids.

“That’s why we got an enrollment form for this year, because we have so many families and we hadn’t really kept up with the numbers. We’re getting big, and I like to keep up with stuff.”

They also want to be choosy and support those children and families “who really do need help.”

TSDLYB is partnering with Community of Hope Church and the Maricopa Post Office. The post office is the main drop-off point for the toy drive. A bin is designated Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

“Sharon [Kiszczak] is the postmaster, and she’s the one made it happen,” Rob Boyd said. “We’d just like to send love to Sharon and her whole staff.”

The toy drive is a mentoring program for TSDLYB, which is a mentoring program itself for pre-teens through adults. TSDLYB also works with Live Pure Kids and IDEA Sports/Youth Organization in Phoenix.
For the past year, it has been teaching a six-week intervention program at the Maricopa court facility and at a Boys & Girls Club and a church in Phoenix.

“Last year, we introduced the program to Mayor [Christian] Price,” Rob Boyd said. “Two weeks later, he called a major meeting of Chief [Steve] Stahl, Judge [Lyle] Riggs and my wife and a couple of other people. From that point, they implemented it in the courthouse September 2015.”

Price said he is always drawn to programs that are trying to do something good in the community.

“A lot has sprung from it, and I know they want to do a lot more,” the mayor said.

So the mayor was on hand in October when the Boyds had a chance to introduce the program to the state’s top prison official.

“Sen. Steve Smith introduced us to Director [Charles] Ryan of Arizona Corrections, and we were at the state capitol with him, Mayor Price and Sen. Catherine Miranda,” Rob Boyd said. “Now we are in the process to talk about how we’re going to implement The Streets Don’t Love You Back lifeskills intervention program into the prison system.”

Dec. 8, the Boyds have a meeting with the director of the re-entry education program from Arizona Department of Corrections. At that meeting, they will discuss ways to start TSDLYB within the prison system.

The program is already in 150 federal and state prisons across the country, but not in its full form. Inmates complete the course on their own and send completed booklets back for the Boyds’ signature of completion.

In its ideal form as presented at the courthouse in Maricopa, there is an instructor and face-to-face discussions about the material. It is still difficult to get individuals to be involved in the free program, Lucinda Boyd said. Many of those who have graduated from the program continue to stay in contact with Rob to share ongoing challenges and get support.

The main problems that crop up among Maricopa youth, Rob Boyd said, are rebellion, talking back to parents and sneaking out at night.

“I don’t see a lot of young people that join our program come at us with drugs or things like that so far,” he said.

Besides giving a hand up to those in a criminal lifestyle or on the edge of it or simply acting out with anger issues, the Boyds seek opportunities to work with law enforcement to improve police training in a way that builds strong community trust.

This autumn they’ve also walked through police-training simulations at VirTra in Tempe. That visit also came at the behest of Smith as the state Legislature mulls funding more law enforcement training.

“If we could have all of our officers go through that – because some of them are so new and they’re out at these scenes and they’ve never had that experience – it’s almost like real-life experience,” Lucinda Boyd said.

The softer side of TSDLYB’s community efforts is the toy drive. Besides the post office, 10 Maricopa businesses and COH have agreed to be drop-off locations, as have three businesses in the Valley. Monetary donations to the Christmas toy drive may also be made online or through the mail.

TSDLYB Christmas Toy Drive Drop-off Donation Sites
Maricopa
Maricopa Arizona Post Office, 44920 W. Hathaway Ave.
The Cut Barbershop, 19395 N. John Wayne Parkway, Suite3
State Farm, 41620 W. Maricopa-Casa Grande Hwy., Suite 105
Jack in the Box, 20975 N. John Wayne Parkway
Nails 4U, 20046 N. John Wayne Parkway, Suite 106
K’Bella Salon & Day Spa, 20800 N. John Wayne Parkway, Suite 101
Water & Ice, 20928 N. John Wayne Parkway, Suite C-7
True Grit Tavern, 20800 N. John Wayne Parkway
Maricopa Renovations, 44400 W. Honeycutt Road, Suite 110
Great Western Bank, 19750 N. John Wayne Parkway
American Family Insurance, 21300 N. John Wayne Parkway Suite, 110B
Community of Hope Church, 45295 W. Honeycutt Ave.

Elsewhere in Arizona
C.U. Look’n Ink, 594 N. Arizona Ave., Chandler
Central Dental, 9315 N. Central Ave., Phoenix
Peoples Mortgage Company, 13845 N. Northsight Blvd., Suite 105, Scottsdale

TSDLYB Christmas Drive, P.O. Box 1093, Maricopa AZ 85139
TheStreetsDontLoveYouBack.ning.com/page/donate
[email protected]


This story appears in the December issue of InMaricopa.