A reflection by John Sweet, program director, Smoky Mountain Children’s Home
He stood in the reception area awaiting a tour. He seemed particularly anxious to get it started. Then, it suddenly occurred to me, he was here for the Smoky Mountain Church of God Home for Children Alumni Reunion. He introduced himself and I noticed his eyes moisten as he told me of his time on the campus. He related he had graduated college and had a graduate degree. He said flatly, “I just came back to say thank you!”
This began my initiation into the Reunion Weekend held on August 3 and 4 at the Church f God Smoky Mountain Children’s Home in Sevierville, Tennessee. It became an unforgettable experience as over 225 alumni from across the United States came back to fellowship, renew acquaintances and to say thank you. I found myself smiling and wiping tears throughout the event. One moment came when I observed a young man with his family standing at the end of a sidewalk. It was a young father, his wife, and boys about 6 and 9 years of age. The man was explaining that this was where dad caught the bus, when he lived at the Home. He was misty eyed. The young dad, lost in thought of a place in the past, was oblivious to the boys (not understanding the moment) running around on the campus road. Fond memories and laughter were the order of the day.
You would have to be impressed with the achievements of the Alumni. Statistics would place them homeless, dropouts, and certainly unsuccessful, but they each spoke of their time on the SMCH campus as turning points in their lives. Where they began to believe and achieve. It was made clearly evident in the presentation by Bobby Harper. He now works as a supervisor for children’s services in California. His passionate remarks left an indelible mark on all who attended. He noted that many so-called experts would not value what the children received at The Home. But he noted in his remarks many, even thousands of gifts both large and small that he and hundreds of others received at The Home. Most notable were:
1. We were given Jesus Christ! Now, what each of us has done with that gift may vary, but we were given it nonetheless. 2. We were given hope! I don’t recall the feeling when I came to the home. I must have been frightened beyond belief. I fought everyone who tried to control me. I have seen that look of hopelessness on the faces of children with whom I have worked, when I removed them from their mothers and fathers. At that moment, you are able to trust no one. I must have felt that way for a long time after I got here. But, I left with Hope. I left believing I wasn’t hampered by the backward, dysfunctional limitations of my parents. I left knowing that my grasp exceeded my reach, that I could not only strive toward a goal, but that I could attain it. I left believing I was worthy of love and that I could give it in return. There are things about the experiences we had as children that THE HOME and no experience can undo. It is not in erasing the realities of our lives that the Home was successful, it was in helping us develop a sense of ourselves that uses those realities as building blocks and stepping stones by which we, hopefully, have been able to lead productive, reasonable happy lives. I had thought that I experienced enough pain in my childhood; therefore I would be exempt from any more. Yet, I have experienced more pain, yet through it all, the Hope that was developed within me during those years. It hasn’t always been easy, sometimes it has seemed that hope was only an illusion and that I would lose it. But, at least to this point, I still have it.
3. We were given “a place”! There is something to be said about having “a place”; for children, and for adults for that matter. Having a place where one can feel at home, where one can feel safe, where one can feel at ease to be oneself, is foundational, I believe, to feeling secure. Many children are bounced from placement to placement, some moving as much as 30 times by the time they age out. Some speak of the lack of “a place” that was theirs. Richard McKenzie, in his book, Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century, addresses the issue of “place.” Dr. McKenzie teaches at the University of California at Irvine in Southern California in the 1950’s and is a strong proponent of congregate care as part of today’s child welfare system. McKenzie’s research noted that many of the children from congregate care settings had outpaced those from the general population in remarkable ways. He noted higher graduation rates from college and graduate schools, higher household incomes, and less unemployment and poverty. Many are never able to stay more than a year or eighteen months in one place. They leave with no direction, no indication of how they can take care of themselves. I am one who is eternally grateful for this place.
Other’s spoke with gratitude and humility of the opportunities that had been afforded them because of their time at The Home. A young man was dropped off recently that represents the next generation. I spoke with him briefly stating, “Terrible and unpredictable things sometimes happen in your life that you cannot control, but sometimes even with the bad things something good can happen. Some bad things have happened that has brought you to this place, but I believe some really good things can happen in your life while you are here.” Through the support our partners in ministry “The Home continues to give Jesus Christ, hope, and a place.”