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July 2007
It is 5:30 pm on a warm summer evening. Most of our
staff and many of our residents have left for the
weekend. But just outside my window a young man is
playing basketball with his sisters and much younger
cousin. Although I can’t hear anything that is being
said, I can see the smiles and the laughter.
What makes this ordinary scene so extraordinary is
that when this young man first came to Bonnie Brae only
a few months ago, he neither smiled nor laughed. He had
been in juvenile detention for a very long time on some
relatively minor charge. Everyone agreed that he needed
residential treatment but he was turned down by program
after program. Why? Well this young man has a very
severe food allergy. No other residential program wanted
to take a chance. Admitting this young man would require
some major dietary changes on the part of the entire
campus population. There was some spirited debate and
internal opposition to taking this young man.
In the end, we decided to do the right thing. To take
a chance. We take a lot of chances, a lot of risks. We
accept those who have been rejected or discharged
unsuccessfully from other programs. One of our recent
high school grads had been in 28 different placements
before he came to us. His admission packet stated he was
slow to trust adults. With good reason, it would seem.
Now he is going on to college.
Bonnie Brae’s success with young men such as these is
based on our collective ability to see past their
immediate problems, labels, and histories of program
failures. We look for a strength, a glimmer of hope.
Sometimes it can be very difficult to find such a
strength. Our guys often present with their worst
possible behavior. It is better to be rejected right
away then to begin to put down roots and risk rejection.
So the first few months are critical to long-term
success. We must find their strength. We must deal with
their worst behavior. We must convince them that we can
help. With your support we are successful with more than
four out of five of these young boys and men. Please
continue to help us to help them.
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