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Troubled Youth Find Answers
Mountain States Show Club
by Jennifer Shike
Running away didn’t solve 15-year-old Jennifer’s problems. Neither did drugs or alcohol. In sixth grade, she rebelled and started hanging out with the wrong crowd. In eighth grade, she began experimenting with drinking and using drugs. She ditched school, deciding it was more important to follow the crowd. For that year and a half, her parents tried everything to help her. Yelling didn’t work. Taking away privileges didn’t either. Ultimately, Jennifer did what she wanted to do.
Ricky, 14, was all-too familiar with the routine of 24-hour, lock-down facilities for kids in trouble with the law. Because of his anger about living in foster homes, Ricky fought authority and lied to everyone. Trying to feel accepted, he ended up hanging out with the wrong friends at the wrong places at the wrong times. A shoplifting spree was the final straw.
Struggling with anger about her father’s death, 14-year-old Tiffany was trying to learn how to deal with issues in her life. Her relationship with her mother was already strained because Tiffany couldn’t accept her mother’s rules and the consequences of her decisions.
Stability and security are new concepts for Cory. When he was a baby, he lived with his grandparents for a year. Then, he moved back with his mother for a few years. But she couldn’t take care of him, so he went back to his grandparents. His grandpa finally decided Cory needed structure in his life. It was no surprise that 13-year-old Cory’s anger was getting the best of him.
Depression and multiple suicide attempts controlled Kristi’s life for many years. At the young age of 16, she was desperate for hope and running out of chances. She needed a new perspective on life.
When youth arrive at the Mountain States Children’s Home (MSCH), they bring along deep wounds like these that need healing. At first, the kids experience a bit of culture shock. Instead of concrete buildings, fast food restaurants and shopping centers, they see barns, tractors, and horses grazing in pastures. It’s peaceful on this farm in Longmont, Colo., and that’s not easy on these troubled kids.
“Our kids today are so bombarded with messages from the media and the illicit things that are out there in the world,” MSCH counselor Barbara Noble says. “The kids are searching for light. Their minds are so diluted with darkness. They are looking for something to fulfill them. This rural setting is not typical for children’s homes. After being out here on the farm for 6-8 months, their ‘attitudes’ deflate and they learn to think for themselves instead of depending on society to entertain them.”
Most kids are privately placed at MSCH by parents or grandparents. Some kids are placed by the state. The majority come from similar circumstances – problems with parents or stepparents or struggles with social, economic and behavior issues. Most are victims of emotional abuse, and some have even been physically and sexually abused. MSCH is an environment where kids can get help before going down the path of juvenile facilities, detention centers and becoming wards of the state.
“Being in a farm setting is so new to them,” Noble says. “Not only do they get to create value in themselves because they actually go out and work and see what is achieved by building a fence, digging a hole or hauling hay, but they also find themselves in a very nurturing situation. The kids really are nurtured by their pigs, steers and horses.”
Developing the livestock program
Though MSCH has always raised crops and livestock on its 155 acres, it only recently began to allow kids to raise and care for animals of their own. When Roy Rush took over the position of farm manager, he saw a need for the youth –not just the farm manager – to be involved in raising livestock. He knew working with animals would help the kids.
“Everyone thought I was crazy,” Roy says. “But they knew if I had my mind set, there wasn’t anything they could do to change it. I have experienced firsthand the value of livestock projects in teaching kids responsibility and showing them hard work pays off in the end. I figured the livestock would help them feel a sense of pride and accomplishment.”
Roy grew up on a ranch in southeast New Mexico. When Roy was 15, his father died. Roy quickly found himself in charge of the ranch’s many responsibilities and commitments.
“I see myself in a lot of these kids,” Roy says. “I know what’s it like to feel alone and afraid. If I didn’t have people back then that I looked up to, I would have found myself in more trouble. But, I respected them and walked the line just right because I knew they were watching my every move.”
Roy and his wife, Johnanna, raised four daughters in New Mexico before moving their family to Denver 14 years ago. They moved to Denver because they needed to make more money to support their family, even though it meant leaving behind a life they loved on the ranch. After eight years of working in a Denver warehouse, Roy was offered a job managing the farm by MSCH president Don Winger.
“The twinkle in his eyes came back when he moved out to the farm,” says Shawna Rush, Roy’s youngest daughter. “In New Mexico, Dad was always working outside. When we moved to Denver, he was stuck inside the warehouse and it wasn’t him. When we moved out here, we got our daddy back. This is what he loves.”
Roy believed pigs would be the most economical way of teaching the kids responsibility and letting them learn there is more to life than Nintendo. Roy credits the start of the pig program to Estil Eggleston, of Eggleston Farms in Texhoma, Okla. Eggleston donated gilts to the program and has since donated show pigs as well. In return, Roy and some of the kids traveled to Eggleston Farms to work pig sales. Roy also found people from the community to help pay for feed, scales and equipment.
As the 4-H program grew at MSCH, the kids decided they wanted to have a new club name in case kids who have left the home wanted to come back and show pigs through the 4-H club. They are now the Mountain States Show Club.
With 14 members and four leaders, the club is involved in a variety of projects including swine, beef, home improvement, visual arts and home economics.
“My goal is to see the kids succeed through 4-H while selling the MSCH’s name,” Roy says. “This club helps improve their self-esteem and momentum. If we can build them up just a little, that’s success.”
Counseling in the barn
MSCH is different from most children’s homes because some of its best counselors don’t work in an office – they live in a barn. Noble says that the kids often tell her they feel the happiest when they are working with their animals.
“The therapeutic value of their swine projects is terrific,” Noble says. “They talk to their pigs in ways that they won’t talk to me or anybody else for that matter. There is no one to judge you in the barn. Instead there is a pig that will let you pet it or cuss it out – and the kids won’t get in trouble for it. The pigs also won’t betray their confidence.”
Jennifer was scared of the pigs at first and wasn’t sure if this supposedly fun project would be all that fun. However, after an initiation of being chased around by the other girls with a pitchfork of manure, Jennifer learned that farm life and raising pigs wasn’t so bad.
“The pigs have brought me closer to the other kids as well as myself,” Jennifer says. “When I get frustrated with people, I go talk to my pigs. They don’t backtalk. Deep inside I know that my pig knows I have problems that I need to talk about. If you talk to other people, they just try to give you answers so you’ll quit talking.”
Cory was unusually excited to come to MSCH because he hoped he would make many friends. And he did. But they weren’t the friends he imagined – his best friends were his pigs and his steer.
“I like to talk to my animals about what I’m doing and what’s going on in my life,” Cory says. “They know my voice – just like we are friends.”
In addition to the animals, the kids get to know each other better while working together in the barn.
“You get to know a person pretty well out here, especially in the morning,” Ricky says. “We share a lot of laughs while we work – not many tears unless someone gets kicked by their steer.”
Good friendships and self-esteem were exactly what Kristi was searching for when she arrived at MSCH. Kristi’s struggles with depression were causing problems at home and school. She learned more about her personal value after spending time working alongside Roy.
“He’s not just a farmer, he’s a close friend,” she says. “I put myself down a lot and he helps me not do that. That makes me realize he cares. It also makes me try harder – not only to please him, but because I know someone cares if I try.”
Roy wants the kids to succeed. He sets personal goals that no one else ever sees for each kid when they join the 4-H program.
“If I want to help the kids succeed, I have to be ready to encourage them to reach the next level,” Roy says. “I set goals for them so I have something to help them work toward. If I let them stay at a certain level, then that is what they’ll always be. If I don’t push them to go outside of their comfort zones, where are they going to go?”
Jennifer says Roy has helped her deal with many of the issues she faced at home. He’s also taught her ways to handle her problems in the future.
“Roy has helped me understand that no matter what, you are going to have to do things in life that you don’t like,” she says. “Even though they are hard, you have to face them. You can’t spend the rest of your life running away from things.”
Learning life lessons
Most of the youth who come to MSCH have never experienced structure in their life. At MSCH, they become part of a healthy family with stability and trust.
“These youth often struggle with control issues,” Noble says. “They come from unstable homes and they never know what will happen next. So, they try to stay one step ahead of the game to prevent pain. They go through their whole life this way and that creates a lot of trust issues and game playing.”
Because the kids are trying to control everything around them, they usually rebel at the responsibility of daily livestock chores and schedules when they join the 4-H program.
“It’s hard for the kids to understand that raising livestock is an everyday job,” says Nikki Basart, Roy’s daughter. “You just can’t go out there when you feel like it.”
People try to equate caring for a swine project to caring for a dog, says her sister Shawna. She says livestock are completely different. The kids have to get up early in the morning to feed before the heat sets in, brush and wash their animal, and exercise it. The kids know they are needed in order for the animal to stay alive.
It is hard to show the kids what the payoff is until after they’ve walked into the show ring,” Shawna says. “The joy comes from knowing that you fed and cared for that pig and made it into what it is today. When you walk into the show ring, you know you accomplished something by getting there.”
Roy says the best part of his job is watching what happens to the kids when they succeed and win a ribbon.
“It’s so exciting to see a kid who had no prior knowledge of livestock drive a hog into the show ring,” he says. “Winning a ribbon – any ribbon – makes them feel like they accomplished something. You see their self-esteem grow right before your eyes.”
Tiffany says that she learned many lessons from her project, but the most important thing she learned was to never give up.
“I tried to give up many times,” Tiffany says. “But I learned it’s not worth it. I worked too hard to just give up. I didn’t realize how much fun I had until it was all over. Now, I want to have livestock projects again, but this time with a better attitude.”
Contrary to Kristi’s original beliefs, showing pigs isn’t for wimps. Kristi says she learned how to work hard and deal with tough situations which in turn, helped her manage her depression.
“You have to want to do it,” Kristi says. “The kids who were out there because they had a passion for what they were doing had the most fun. I learned that showing pigs builds character and teaches you a lot about yourself.”
The kids learn how to follow through and complete a project when taking care of livestock, says Roy’s wife, Johnanna.
“With our own kids, we believed if they started something and quit, they would never get anywhere in life,” Johnanna says. “We treat these kids like our own. If they start something, they have to finish it – regardless of how hard it is to finish.”
Jennifer says she has always been a quitter, but she has learned what it’s like to stick things through at MSCH.
“The home has taught me you have to put forth effort to get something back,” she says. “Don’t give up or be afraid of taking chances.”
In addition to learning perseverance, the kids learn about the value of their project. When the animals are sold, Roy and Johnanna show the kids their check. Then, they show them the costs of their project – the pig, the feed, the medicine, etc.
“We are trying to teach them that it costs to do this,” Johnanna says. “Many times these kids begin to feel like the world owes them something because people are so giving and supportive of the children’s home. We try to help them realize that the real world isn’t always that giving and they need to learn to take care of themselves.”
Making a difference
Ultimately, the goal of MSCH is to help children return to a safe environment in their own homes. The lessons they learn are part of the process to help hurting children and broken families come together again with new communication skills and confidence.
Johnanna says, “We believe it’s important to teach these kids love and compassion for one another. We expose them to morals and respect for others. We love the kids here like they were our own.”
When the kids return home, Johnanna hopes they take away some Christian examples they can implement into their own lives. Most of all, she hopes they love and respect themselves.
In addition to the lessons learned while caring for livestock, some kids have discovered more about themselves through weekly counseling sessions at MSCH.
“The sessions are usually a reflection of my week and how things are going in my life,” Kristi says. “We go over things step by step to see where the missing pieces are and try to fill them in and stuff. It helps me to be able to talk to someone about what’s going on inside. When you see the counselors here over and over, you develop a relationship over time. Then, you don’t have to hide anything from them because they can see right through that.”
For some kids, involvement in the Longmont Church of Christ and the Christian environment at MSCH has made the biggest difference in their lives.
“I used to go to church because my mom made me,” Jennifer says. “Here, in Longmont, I go to church three times a week. It’s neat being able to talk to people who are Christians and believe in that stuff. They help open your eyes to what God really is doing in your life. As I have grown closer to God, I’ve realized that my parents aren’t so bad after all. God is probably using them to help me grow.”
Kristi considered herself an atheist before coming to MSCH. She says that her behavior struggles have been linked to the fact that she was ignoring God for so many years.
“I know I’m not alone anymore,” Kristi says. “I like going to youth group and am more willing to share instead of closing myself off from people.”
Even though some of the kids can see the positive changes in their lives because of MSCH, there are still many concerns when the kids return home. Jennifer says she isn’t ready to go home yet because she is afraid she would fall back into the same temptations.
“I think if I went back now, I’d start smoking and using drugs again,” Jennifer says. “Right now I am in withdrawal from drugs. I was still using when I came here and got caught. I promised my mom I would quit. But if I went back now, I might fall back into it.”
In some ways, Jennifer says she is stronger and could handle pressures better in her friendships.
“If people don’t like me for me, I think I would be o.k. with that,” she says. “I would be better at choosing good friends, be more assertive and do better in school.”
Because of the lessons she has learned, Jennifer says kids shouldn’t be scared to try MSCH.
“Give it a chance,” she says. “These places are here to make us better and help us without putting us under lock and key. You have to realize that your parents or family sent you here because they want to help you. They don’t hate you. Respect them for trying and give it a chance before you judge it.”
Roy’s daughter, Nikki, says this children’s home offers the very things that helped shape her own life – Christian faith and livestock projects.
“These kids have the opportunity to be around people who genuinely love them for who they are,” she says. “That love, combined with the opportunity to be involved in a swine project that builds their character and teaches life lessons, can really make a difference in their lives.”
And the differences are overwhelming. After six months at MSCH, Kristi has learned how to set goals for herself. She has improved her self-esteem and learned how to deal with depression. Most importantly, she has discovered her dreams. She knows that she enjoys raising and caring for pigs and wants to continue working on a farm someday…maybe even a farm of her own.
