Grants, donations take Christamore from ‘open’ to thriving

Students at Christamore Family Treatment Center were busy early last week making artwork to decorate the facility for a family fun Valentine's Day party on Friday, Feb. 15.

While the girls - Sarah Nafziger, 16, Robin Bahl, 13, Josey Fink, 17, and Taylor Bottger, 14 - were the ones hard at work creating the perfect pink and red hearts to hang on the walls, it's the generosity from community members and grants received by Young House Family Services for Christamore that make family fun days possible.

'Funds cover the cost to keep our doors open, but it's the community support that allows us to host fun events,” said Shauna Freitag, executive director of Young House Family Services.

'It also provides Christmas,” Freitag continued. 'Kids sometimes can't go home because it's not safe. They can open presents on Christmas morning. Churches donate blankets to make it feel more like a home-setting. Our community supporters are very important to what we do.”

With donations, Christamore is able to host family meals, bingo nights, pumpkin carving and painting, Christmas parties and even put on a talent show a few years ago at Midwest Old Threshers that was open to the public.

Family fun days, which occur once a quarter, are a time for families to visit the students and interact with them in a positive manner, Freitag said. While families are encouraged to visit every week, family fun days are a special time for everyone at Christamore to make the place feel more like home.

Christamore takes students from all over the Eastern Iowa Service Area, which includes anywhere from Davenport to Cedar Rapids to Keokuk. The distance makes it financially difficult for some families to travel. A lot of churches and individuals donate gas cards and help cover transportation costs to make visitations possible.

No place like home

While students are at Christamore, everyone at the facility is working to make it feel like home.

'We want the community to understand there are kids who come through here with trauma, mental health issues, substance abuse issues, and it's not always going to be perfect, but our kids are very good kids who come from unfortunate circumstances,” Freitag said.

Every staff member, from the receptionist at the front desk to the person who cleans the facility, is required to have a minimum of level one trauma-informed training. There are five levels to trauma-informed training.

'It's a philosophy. It's how we do programming. It's how we interact with the kids,” Freitag said. 'That way everyone is approaching every child and every family with not ‘What's wrong with you?' but 'What's happened to you?'”

Christamore treats students from 11 to 17-years-old through their residential program school program and child welfare emergency services program.

Christamore's residential program addresses a wide range of treatment needs including mental health issues, substance abuse, grief issues, behavior disorders and victim or abuse issues. Clients reside at the facility and receive on-campus educational services. Christamore has 16 total spots for this program.

The school program is educational intervention for middle and high school students who are extremely disruptive within the school setting and need a more therapeutic environment. It serves up to 15 students and is overseen by the Mt. Pleasant Community School District.

The Child Welfare Emergency Services Program provides emergency safety services while providing two shelter beds on a 24/7 emergency referral situation from DHS, JCS and local law enforcement.

‘We appreciate the support'

A new roof, a Frisbee golf course, flexible seating and memberships to The REC Center are just a few amenities Christamore Family Treatment Center is able to provide through grants.

The William M. and Donna J. Hoaglin Foundation has given Young House Family Services $20,000 for the past two years. In 2018, the grant money went to help remodel a bathroom and shower room at Christamore. This year, Christamore will be able to get the other bathroom and shower room remodeled as well.

The Hoaglin Foundation grant has also provided the money to replace the roof at Christamore and remodel the front rooms in the facility to make them more 'homey and inviting,” Freitag said.

The Pennebaker Foundation is another foundation that Christamore depends on grant money from to help with family engagement.

The Enhance Henry County Community Foundation grant has helped the facility with improvement projects. This year, Christamore purchased flexible seating for students in two classrooms with the grant money such as stools and balls instead of standard chairs.

'(Flexible seating) is important for kids we have here because so many struggle to stay focused. It gives them the opportunity to get up and move around a lot more,” said Kevin Holden, director of Christamore.

The Henry County Health Center Foundation grant is a new grant Christamore received this year. It paid for memberships to The REC Center, Ninja blenders to make smoothies and a water bottle and cookbook for each student to take home with them.

Mid Am Building Supply has given Christamore yearly donations to help with anything needed at the facility.

Christamore also receives donations from Kiwanis.

Through grants, Christamore was able to add a Frisbee golf course to their property several years ago.

'We receive a lot of donations from community partners in Henry County,” said Melissa Brown, chief financial director of Young House Family Services. 'We want the public to know how much they're supporting us and how much we appreciate that.”

A bad rap to community acceptance

Community partnerships go beyond grants and financial donations, however. Students are taught life-skills through part-time jobs at The Quarter Store, Hy-Vee and Pizza Hut; playing on an athletic team at the Mt. Pleasant Community School District; or participating in other extracurricular activities.

Beki Hoyle, assistant director at Christamore, said activities like these help students learn to be a part of a community and teach them how to be successful when they leave the facility.

'It's only because the community is willing to accept them that they're gaining those skills and opportunities that they did not have before they were here,” Hoyle said.

This new relationship with Mt. Pleasant is drastically different from a decade ago, Hoyle said.

'It's taken a lot of years for the community to see (Christamore) kids out and about. I've worked here a long time and watched the community become more accepting,” Hoyle said.

Freitag said Christamore struggles more than ever with their social media image.

'We're going to have incidents. We're going to need police assistance from time to time. That one incident can undo months, if not years, of good work. That's going to be an ongoing battle,” Freitag said.

Hoyle said beyond financial investments, Christamore needs volunteers willing to mentor students. From hosting game nights to organizing community service projects for the students to take part in, Hoyle said volunteers show the kids there are people who care about them.

To volunteer, an extensive background check is required.

'The community involvement is just as important to those kids' lives. It's just as important as financial donations,” Hoyle said.

Anyone interested in volunteering or investing financially in Christamore can call 319-385-2906.