| Take a walk with Seth Eklund through the Bresee | | | | teams and driving 25-50 kids home every night |
| Foundation campus and you will notice two things | | | | after a long day at the Foundation.” Coupled |
| right away: lots of colors and lots of kids. The | | | | with the complex nature of working with people |
| building glows with brightly painted walls, rooms | | | | rather than objects, this can make for a |
| covered in artwork, and children’s smiles. Kids | | | | frustrating combination. “The other issue that |
| run up to Seth and give him hugs and high-fives; | | | | contributes to burnout is the fact that your work |
| he calls them each by name, asking about their | | | | is never done. It isn’t like carpentry where |
| parents and grades. Barely two sentences into | | | | you build a table and can stand back and look at it |
| speaking with each of them, someone else comes | | | | when you are finished. When you are working on |
| up to ask a question or tell him a story; he | | | | the lives of people, it takes a long time and the |
| brushes none of them aside and remains fully | | | | results are not always so cut and dried.” |
| present for each one’s needs. | | | | Tired, and desperately looking for a reprieve from |
| Bresee’s location is difficult to categorize; it | | | | the stress, Seth and his new bride quit their jobs, |
| falls in the no man’s land between downtown, | | | | sold all of their possessions, and went on their |
| Hollywood and Koreatown in the greater Los | | | | dream honeymoon traveling the world for next |
| Angeles metro area. In many ways this is | | | | 18 months. Starting in Singapore, they eventually |
| analogous to Seth’s childhood and | | | | made their way into China and spent some time |
| adolescence. He is the son of Brian Eklund, a | | | | in Europe before coming back to L.A. Seth will |
| former longtime pastor at St. Mark’s Lutheran | | | | readily admit that it was not the easiest or most |
| Church in south Los Angeles. His neighborhood and | | | | beneficial decision in terms of his career |
| early years were a study in contrast. Many of the | | | | placement. When he came back to Bresee, he |
| people Seth grew up with lived in the tough parts | | | | was forced to take a position lower than the one |
| of town where gangs were common, and drugs | | | | he had previously held, but he sees the benefits |
| stirred with violence had become a way of life. He | | | | of travel as far outweighing the inconvenience of |
| and his siblings were the only Caucasian students | | | | starting over in the ranks of seniority at any |
| in an all-African-American neighborhood. Yet he | | | | organization. “It was a life-changing experience. |
| also attended a private Jesuit high school where | | | | I learned more in that year and a half of travel |
| he rubbed shoulders with some of L.A.’s most | | | | than I did in my four years at UCLA.” |
| influential and wealthy citizens. “I had one foot | | | | Seth has continued at the organization ever since, |
| in the door of the affluent side of Los Angeles, | | | | rising to the position of Interim Executive Director. |
| and the other in one of the city’s poorest | | | | Seth’s plans for the future are simple: “I |
| areas.” Immediately after graduating from | | | | just want to see us through this financial crisis |
| UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in cultural | | | | right now, but I can easily see myself working |
| anthropology, he heard about a job opening at | | | | here for the next 15 years.” |
| what was then called the Bresee Center. There | | | | Seth’s childhood straddling wealth and |
| were four employees at the time, and Seth | | | | poverty, his copiously stamped passport, his |
| began by helping kids with homework and running | | | | experience of running away at age 13, and his |
| the organization’s scholarship program. “I | | | | degree in cultural anthropology have given him a |
| hadn’t really been looking to get into the field | | | | perspective uniquely suited to the benefits and |
| of youth development, and my starting salary at | | | | challenges inseparably joined to his calling and |
| Bresee was only $12,000 a year, but I was | | | | occupation. “My experiences have given me |
| excited to get involved.” | | | | at least a small window through which to |
| After five years with the organization, quite a bit | | | | empathize with these kids’ state of mind.” |
| of the excitement had worn off. Seth | | | | Seth enriches lives by sharing pieces of himself, of |
| experienced “ministry burnout. I was wearing | | | | his experiences. He brings a personal mosaic to a |
| a billion hats. At the time I was responsible for the | | | | building with luminescent walls, and to children |
| education department, Young Life worship, the | | | | whose futures are now equally as bright because |
| one-on-one tutoring program, scholarships, | | | | of his influence. |
| homework assistance, coaching three soccer | | | | Written by: Joshua Rigsby (for uwemp. |