125+ kids from By The Hand Club, a nonprofit organization committed to serving children from the most under-resourced and dangerous neighborhoods in Chicago, took a guided boat tour through the city on the Chicago river, out onto lake Michigan and down the skyline. Only a handful of the children had ever been on a boat before, or seen outside of the neighborhoods they’ve grown up in. Most of them came from one of four By The Hand Club locations, situated in Chicago’s west side Austin neighborhood. The nonprofit club, protected by bulletproof glass windows, acts as a safe haven for hundreds of kids in one of the most gang-ridden areas of Chicago. They teach the kids how to read, write and excel in school beyond their grade levels, and perhaps most importantly embrace each child with an open heart.