Jacqueline Douvier Matthews believes that she can make a difference in this world and she has set out to make that goal a reality.
“One morning I was coming home and I prayed and I asked God what can I do? I want to open a shelter for girls not to run from but to run to. A lot of girls runaway from these group homes and foster homes and a lot of times even though people get money for this they aren’t really putting it into the kids, so they act out on that end because they are aware. I wanted a place where they would run to and not run from,” Matthews said.
Matthews stated that one night God woke her up and told her that her organization would be named after her middle name. She didn’t go back to sleep until she had decided what each letter would represent. She decided that her movement would be named “Deserving of Unwanted Victimizing is Everyone’s Right.”
Matthews would like to partner with the local mission to aid in raising homeless girls. However while she is still waiting to hear back from them she could not just sit back.
“I bought a building so that I can do what I want to do at anytime. I decided I wanted to reach out to the kids that no one else is reaching out to. Kids that are underprivileged, they can’t afford to do certain things. I said to myself, ‘Every opportunity that I would get and what ever God put on my mind that’s what I would do for them,’” Matthews said.
The first event of the Douvier Movement was to let everyone know that Matthews was here and wanted to make a difference in the community. She stated that while she didn’t necessarily want to come back home, she realized once she got here that Blytheville was where she is suppose to be.
She plans to give kids opportunities to go to events outside of Blytheville so that when kids see that there is more to life than living impoverished and that just because you live that way now, does not mean you have to stay that way.
“You can be whatever you want to be. It is a mindset. Whatever you think you can be, you can become,” Matthews said.
The first event Matthews held was for mothers and daughters and then she held a lyrical expression poetry event to show kids that there is more to entertainment then just rapping and twerking. Her third event, which included the grand opening of her facility, was a walk-a-thon. Her latest event, which will be held Saturday November 4, is a girl’s empowerment event.
“I’m going to bring people in who have lived the life of a prostitute, a teen mother, an alcoholic, victims who have harmed themselves and now they are doctors, lawyers, nurses and etcetera. I’m also going to speak because it is my house I’ve got to seal the deal. I’m going to tell them that it’s okay to be yourself; it’s okay to be different. You don’t have to go along with the crowd,” Matthews said.
Matthews stated that a person’s environment can put them in situations that they don’t want to be in. Matthew’s movement is designed for girls age 8 to 20. She stated that she has been advised about her selection being too wide of an age group, but she knows those are the ages she needs to be working with. She stated that everything that she does will be age appropriate and that she will split different ages into different lessons, but that she knows who she needs to be impacting.
She stated that “kids pray on kids” so whenever you are dealing with a young age group it is important to make yourself more approachable in the eyes of a child. Matthews said that kids have to be listened to because they will tell you what is going on, but if you don’t listen you might not understand it until something more drastic happens later on and by that point it is too late.
“A lot of parents are coming to this event because they feel like they need help too and I told them to come. It’s not just for the girls, it is for you too. At the end of the day kids understand everything. You know how they say ‘actions speak louder than words?’ They are looking at what you are doing and what you are showing them is the same activity that they will do later,” Matthews said.
Safety is incredibly important to Matthews so she stresses its importance in all situations. Matthews stated that she told her daughters to be safe in all occurrences.
“My youngest daughter, she doesn’t even want to have kids; she wants to travel the world. She does a lot because she knows what she wants,” Matthews said.
The most important quality to Matthews is being yourself. She believes that it is important to be real and that people know whenever someone is real or if they are fake.
“The fakes, they hang together and the reals they hang alone sometimes. The fakes hang together because if they part, they are scared they will share each other’s secrets so they have to stay together. If you are real it is okay to stand alone,” Matthews said.
The Douvier Movement’s Girl’s Empowerment event will be held from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at 309 W Main St in Blytheville. The event will have be available to all ages and will have activities for younger children for those that would like to attend, but do not have access to a baby sitter.
Deserving of unwanted victimizing is everyone’s right!