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Life Skills For At-Risk Teens
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| Every day, thousands of young people are put in youth detention centers, and for many it is the beginning of a life of crime. A youth ministry in Kentucky is trying to save children from that hopeless cycle. Members of the Broadway United Methodist Church and other churches in Paducah are going into juvenile prison twice a week to bring a message of hope and encouragement. Lindsay Ferrier has the story. | |||
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SCRIPT:
It is a place beyond school suspension, beyond reform school. This is juvenile prison, where young people walk a tightrope between productive lives and a cycle of incarceration.
Mike Gentry hopes his life skills class will make a difference. He’s here to encourage, not criticize.
Mike Gentry: “Anything positive they can chew on is good, because they get plenty of slop to eat.”
Gentry is part of the Broadway United Methodist church's youth ministry in Paducah, Kentucky.
In this class, he's not allowed to mention the Bible unless one of the teens brings it up…but he and his fellow volunteers find ways to teach its principles. Since they can’t contact the teens after their release, they must rely on faith that their message is sinking in.
Mike Gentry: “You may never know and you live with it. But that's what the Bible teaches, sow the seeds and let him take care of it.”
Shirley Rouse: “We may never know the big picture, how everyone ends up, but God gives us little glimpses.”
Blake Morrow is that glimpse. While serving time for drug charges, Blake soaked in a message of forgiveness and responsible living.
Blake Morrow: “I guess constantly putting that in my head, it just finally the light clicked on.”
Blake realized he wanted to feel good about himself and it wasn't too late.
Now he has a new job, he's back in church and even thinking about college.
His story proves many of these teens want much more for themselves than a life of crime.
Beverly Freeman / Kentucky Detention Center Youth Counselor: “They want hugs, they want handshakes, they want prayers – they want life skills. I mean, we couldn't ask for a better program.”
TAG:
The life skills program is such a hit the state of Kentucky is considering adopting the program statewide.