By By RHYS WALTERS

It's 9 p.m., Saturday, and Jededon Parker, 14, is hanging out at the Late Night Program at the Meadowbrook Community Center Annex. He's talking to friends, hanging out. He can play pool if he wants, or watch television. Later on in the evening, he plans to play some basketball. "They get some good games going here," he says.

Parker, who attends Hamilton Middle School, has been going to Meadowbrook's Late Night Program for three years. He heard about it from his friend, Sean, and has attended regularly ever since.

The program is held every Friday and Saturday evening to give youths, ages 13-21, a positive alternative to unsuitable activities, such as drug dealing, drug using, and gang-related violence.

The program is located in the Meadowbrook Community Center Annex, a 6,000-square-foot facility located at 10750 30th Ave. NE, which is connected to Nathan Hale High School. The annex - which includes a small gym, a couple of rooms and an office - served as the original home of the Meadowbrook Community Center until the center's move into a new, 23,000-square-foot stand-alone building, located 10515 35th Ave. NE, in 1997.

The Meadowbrook Community Center Annex is now shared by Nathan Hale High School as well as the Seattle Parks Department. The Late Night Program is funded by the Parks Department. As many as 150 kids and young adults, from ages 5 to early 20s, attend the Late Night Program at Meadowbrook each evening, said program counselor Shannon Anderson.

Ten years ago, Anderson, himself, attended the program. A friend told him about it. Anderson was 18 at the time.

"I was hanging out, doing a lot of stuff I shouldn't have been doing," he says. "I could've gone to jail."

The Late Night Program had a very positive influence on Anderson. "It helped me out," he says. "Kept me out of trouble."

In 1992, Anderson was asked if he would be interested in volunteering his time to become a counselor at the Late Night Program. He has been volunteering ever since.

The program offers free-shoot basketball, foosball and pool tables on both nights. Volleyball matches are held on Saturday nights. Badminton matches are played both evenings. A television in the back room shows movies for those who just want to take it easy. During the month of October, a pumpkin carving was held.

The program also provides services to the community. Kids and counselors clean graffiti off of neighboring buildings, and do projects to beautify the greater Lake City area and maintain the environment. Currently, they are trying to schedule a wetland restoration project for Ravenna Park.

And while the youths work hard, they play hard as well. Field trips are a regular activity. Most cost $2-$6. The program has sent youths to Camp Brotherhood, a yearly event open to all youth centers in Seattle. The camp features speakers (who give talks about life skills) as well as a bonfire and dance.

The Late Night Program also offers occasional movie outings, as well as bowling and skating outings. They just went to a dance held on a boat, and in past Halloweens they've attended haunted houses.

So is the Late Night Program working? Is it keeping kids away from unsuitable activities and steering them in the right direction? Anderson believes it is.

"If you can imagine no Late Night Program, and 150 kids not having anything to do, do you think it would be an alternative?," Anderson asks. "It gives kids a place to go."

And if they do get into trouble, as kids sometimes do, they have a place of support. "If those situations do come," says Anderson, "they have someone they can talk to."

For more information about the Late Night Program, call the Meadowbrook Community Center at 684-7522. (