Taking flight
Wilderness weekends help young men overcome difficult pasts
By Craig Staller F
light Program began in 2009 when staff of ELCA-affiliated Diakon Lutheran Social Minis-
tries’ Wilderness Center began won- dering about the long-term effects of their work with Pennsylvania and Maryland youth in the juvenile court and youth services systems. Thanks to the center, these young people had taken steps toward becoming pro- ductive members of society. “At the center they didn’t use [aggression and physical force] to scare and intimidate,” said Tom, a former resident and current leader of the 52-week Flight Program (last names of participants are withheld). “They talked with me and listened.” Yet staff sensed that short-term help wasn’t enough. Center direc- tor Corey Carothers said these teens need people to teach them practical, common-sense things “like how to
Staller, a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, Camp Hill, Pa., is a freelance writer in central Pennsylvania.
be a good neighbor, how to maintain an apartment [and] the importance of establishing good credit.” When youth leave the center they are essentially told, “Go and be good,” said Rob Kivlan, Flight Program supervisor. “Well, what does that look like? For many of them that’s foreign, and so we want to show them. “We asked ourselves … ‘How can we provide them with better follow-up and support in the world outside of this program? How can we help them link their experiences here with their lives back [home]?’ Flight was born as we responded to those questions.” Zach, a Flight participant, described the dilemma this way: “I honestly don’t know where I would be right now. … I know I’m 18, but on the inside I still consider myself a kid. In a nutshell, I had nothing, no one or anyplace to call home.” Citing “a rough childhood” with “violence and drug addictions” on both sides of his family, Zach said, “I was in placement and locked up a few times as a teen for lack of par- enting and bad decision-making on my part.” Today he attends college, major- ing in criminal justice “to help the ones who are less fortunate, like me,” he said.
In Flight, former center partici- 32 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
COURTESY OF ROB KIVLAN
Tom and Keith (last names withheld) enjoy a wilderness hike as part of Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries’ Flight Program. The program helps young men who have aged out of youth services.
pants and others who have aged out of youth services (ages 17 to 24) spend weekends engaged in activi- ties designed to enhance their com- munity involvement and success in life.
Participation is voluntary. How-
ever, its nonmandatory nature makes the Flight School ineligible for some government funding, so Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries covers costs with the help of fundraising campaigns.
These young adults have logged volunteer hours with Habitat for Humanity, the American Red Cross and local homeless ministries. They’ve sailed the Hudson River and taught third- and fourth-graders about the environment. They’ve built a church from the ground up in Beach Creek, Pa., and have spear- headed the shipment of unused beds from Diakon’s Wilderness Center to two orphanages in Haiti. “We sacrifice our weekends to be with our brothers here in Flight,” Zach said. “We let go of the old Friday-night parties. Now we spend that time helping one another and the community.”
The relationships go deep. “We’re not afraid to cry in front of each other [or] ask for help,” he added. “We dropped that front. Fridays and Saturdays are now about positive people, places and things.”
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