REHAB CENTER NEEDS REPAIRS

Most people in Cape Girardeau can tell you about the Mid-America Teen Challenge organization. But not many know how the organization has managed to thrive over 27 years.

"We're unashamedly Christian, and if you want to know why we're so successful, that's it," said the Rev. Jack Smart, its executive director.

Teen Challenge has had more than 3,000 students attend the 10-month substance-abuse rehabilitation program, and more than 2,000 have successfully completed the religion-based program, said Smart.

Teen Challenge operates on limited funding provided by donations. The organization's General Work Experience Program helps students develop proper attitudes and habits of work while providing income for operating costs through wood-working, strawberry and blueberry farming, and apple-picking.

Smart said the living quarters for the students seem meager and sad to some people. "I've had women tell me that they went home and cried after touring our buildings. I don't think it's that bad."

Even so, Smart said improvements need to be made. For the past year, Teen Challenge has been working to meet a $500,000 goal to raise funds for disparately needed repairs to dormitories, staff housing, and the administrative office. Space is a real concern for the program, which currently has 107 of 108 beds filled.

"Our capital campaign will allow us to make some much-needed improvements and expansion in our program," Smart said. "We need to expand and renovate the dorms, which will raise our capacity from 108 to 119, and we need to add some staff housing and refurbish some of the current housing.

"A number of our buildings were originally built from materials salvaged from other renovation projects. The problem is that those materials start to deteriorate more quickly than new materials."

Smart said the organization has extensive expansion and building projects planned, but it has to raise money before any renovations can occur. The $500,000 goal needs to be met before the end of February, he said, in order to obtain a challenge grant from an Oklahoma-based foundation.

The organization has currently collected approximately $335,000.

"We don't charge the guys who come through our program," he said. "The money from our work programs goes into operating costs, which doesn't leave anything for other projects. We're not trying to turn this place into the Hilton for these guys, but I do feel like the guys need a decent place to stay."

Students have left the Teen Challenge program and gone on to work successfully in many fields, including education, business management, and religious ministry. But Smart said anyone who completes the program is a success, even if they only work as common laborers.

"We consider any student who completes our program and lives drug- and alcohol-free as a Christian a success," Smart said. "The main thing Teen Challenge is about is changing lives."