Feeding Body and Soul
Girls and Boys Town Fills Hole Left by Family, System
 

By Ray Dyer
The Sooner Catholic  

OKLAHOMA CITY — In 1917, Father Edward J. Flanagan felt pity for some young boys in Nebraska who were living on the streets of Omaha. The boys were hungry, victims of the poverty that smothered much of the nation. Father Flanagan filled their bellies with sandwiches and at the same time he began to fill their spirits with hope. Boys Town was born.

Today, Girls and Boys Town, as it is now known, continues to reach out to young people. Only now, many of the girls and boys who find their way to one of the 19 campuses located throughout the country aren’t starving for lack of food. The hunger that burns inside these young people derives from the lack of a healthy, loving and faith-filled environment. Girls and Boys Town is out to change that,        if necessary, one child and one family at a time.

Earlier this month, Father Steven Boes (pronounced “base”) was in Oklahoma at the invitation of some local people who support Girls and Boys Town. The new executive director of Girls and Boys Town, Father Boes, also came because many young people are hurting in Oklahoma. Last year, the Girls and Boys Town national crisis hot line received 4,000 calls from Oklahoma. Father Boes said many of the calls came from young people, many considering suicide.

Father Boes said many of the young people who today come to Girls and Boys Town are filled with raging anger. And after he describes what many of them have been through, who could blame them for their anger? These young people have been used and abused so often there is little trust inside their hearts. Father Boes said it takes time, patience, consistency and love to rekindle the spirit of life that has been buried under so much of the world’s garbage.

Father Boes tells about eating dinner at one of the 75 family homes on the campus in Nebraska. During dinner a 16-year-old girl tells those gathered around the table that for the first time in her life she’s in a home where she       isn’t being sexually assaulted. The young girl had come to Girls and Boys Town four years earlier, when she was 12. During her young life authorities had removed her from her parents’ home where her father first assaulted her. Over  the years she was placed into a number of foster homes where the assaults continued.

“The  system  has  failed,” Father Boes said. He said many children only know life in foster homes or juvenile prisons before arriving at Girls and Boys Town, their youthful innocence long extinguished by the constant bombardment of sex, drugs, lies and violence. They arrive at Girls and Boys Town with a giant chip on their shoulder and intense anger brewing inside. And yet somehow, after a steady diet of prayer and healthy family living the majority of these young people leave Girls and Boys Town with a renewed spirit of hope, trust in themselves and most importantly faith in God. Father Boes said this healing begins to occur when the children reach a point where “they can start to forgive God” for the misery they’ve known in their young lives.

Father Boes said the founder of Boys Town, Father Flanagan had “a keen eye” for what helps a child recover from years of abuse and neglect. The secret, he said, is a strong and loving family environment.

Helpful Hotline

Girls and Boys Town offers a toll free number for anyone needing assistance. The Girls and Boys Town National Hotline is 1-800-448-3000. Trained counselors are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Spanish language assistance and a TTY line for hearing or speech impaired is available at 1-800-448-1833. The website is: www.girlsandboystown.org