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Rural Christian Environment Changes Lives
by Jennifer Shike
In a world where morals are hard to find and family units are failing, havens like the Mountain States Children’s Home are opening their doors to troubled youth in search of answers. Don Winger, president of the MSCH Board, says the mission of this children’s home is to develop the whole child.
“Meeting their physical needs is easy,” Winger says. “Healing their emotional hurts and challenging their minds while teaching them moral principles is not easy.”
Even though it is not easy to develop the whole child, the staff at MSCH are doing their best to make a positive impact on young lives before severe problems occur. One of the strengths behind MSCH is the home-like atmosphere provided by the houseparents - husband/wife teams who have a minimum of two years college or verifiable experience in a related field. The houseparents, their own children, and six of the “placed” children reside in one of the three houses on the MSCH campus.
The houses operate like any family home with meals to prepare, laundry, chores, recreation, etc. The houseparents are on duty 24 hours a day with the exception of times when children go to the relief house and houseparents to give the main houseparents a break.
Christina Cannon has worked at MSCH for two years. She is a houseparent and mother of two sons. Christina explains that housemothers are responsible for everything from making meals and providing a regular at-home environment to helping with school work and keeping kids focused on behavior management. She runs kids to and from appointments, teaches them to cook and clean, and whatever they need to know before going out on their own someday.
“This is the hardest job I will ever do,” Cannon says. “I can’t imagine anything being harder than this. It’s an ongoing challenge because we are constantly saying hello and goodbye to new girls. This throws the other girls into a tailspin and you have to start all over with relationships and trust.”
MSCH Public Relations Coordinator Matt Eldred began working at MSCH as a houseparent in 2000. Now, Eldred and his wife are completely devoted to the public relations duties of the home. Eldred says being a houseparent opened his eyes to what it’s like to care for these kids around the clock.
“We can go out and talk to people about the children’s home better now because we’ve been there,” Eldred says. “I know what the houseparents and kids go through.”
Cannon says the biggest challenge is learning to work with each child that comes in at their own level because all kids learn at different levels and have varied needs.
“Some kids are genuine and real,” she says. “It doesn’t take a lot to find that in them. With others, you just have sit back and accept that you may never find what you are looking for inside of them.”
Throughout the past two years, Cannon has learned a lot about who she is. She says she has learned how capable she is, yet at the same time, how human she is.
“I make mistakes on a daily basis,” she says. “I have to look to God because I couldn’t do this job without him. I’m raising my kids in an environment that they would have never had to be a part of outside of this home, but I know we have a purpose here. It’s just not as easy if those influences weren’t part of our daily lives.”
When the kids leave MSCH, Cannon hopes they leave with good problem solving skills and ways to handle the different problems they will face in life.
“I want to teach them to be independent,” Cannon says. “Most of the people in these young people’s lives have let them down. The kids are afraid to trust anyone. So, instead of being self-reliant, they become self-destructive. We hope we can turn that around so they know who they are and can take pride in themselves.”
In order to continue providing opportunities for youth to grow and develop a strong foundation, MSCH is planning big things for their future. They are trying to raise $350,000 to start a new phase of the children’s home – an on-ground school. They are also hoping to build two more cottages in the next five years to be able to serve more kids each year.
However, it’s very important to MSCH to have no more than six kids in each home as any more would be even less like real families today. So, in order to help more youth, they need to be able to provide more housing opportunities.
In addition they have added a foster care program that has allowed them to serve kids who are going to be at the home long-term. MSCH put these kids in families so they have a better environment to grow up in. MSCH also has an independent living program geared to 16-18-year-olds who are long-term and will not go home. This program helps youth with social skills, living skill, college tuition assistance, finding jobs, etc. As long as the kids meet MSCH’s criteria, they receive financial help and support.
Currently the 4-H program and horseback riding program are the two most successful programs at MSCH. No other residential childcare facility offers programs like these. The licensed counselors at MSCH believe the most beneficial thing for the kids is to be involved in the 4-H program where they can raise and care for an animal.
“The responsibility of raising a pig, showing it at the fair and seeing the rewards for hard work are some of the best things these kids can learn while they are here,” Eldred says.
With the MSCH 4-H program, it’s hard to fail, Winger says.
“Most of the time we deal with kids who would rather fail to try then try and fail,” he says. “The kids put a lot of pressure on each other to be successful. And it works. I coached sports for 30 years and I don’t know of any program that can teach kids responsibility, self value and teamwork like the 4-H program.”
MSCH receives the majority of its funding by private individuals and churches. Winger says most people don’t realize how many different ways they can support MSCH. From used farm machinery and cars to boar semen and show pigs, they are many things this home needs in order to run each year in addition to financial support.
Shawna Rush, the farm manager’s daughter, says she supports MSCH because she knows the benefits kids can receive from 4-H projects, especially livestock projects.
“Most of these kids have troubled minds and troubled hearts,” Rush says. “When I see them form a close relationship with their pig and tell it their secrets, I feel good inside. I know that money is serving a good cause.”
As MSCH prepares for an exciting future full of changes and updates, Winger emphasizes that the home must change and stay abreast of the times.
“We can’t be complacent here,” Winger says. “We need a vision for tomorrow while meeting today’s children’s needs as we move forward.”
For more information, contact:
Mountain States Children’s Home
Roy Rush, Livestock Manager
P.O. Box 1097, 14770 North 107th
Longmont, CO 80502
(303) 776-6841
