CHALLENGERm o u n t a i n m i s s i o n

The Quarterly Newsletter of Mountain Mission School Special Edition

Grundy, VA USA Serving kids in need in the name of Christ since 1921.

Life Lessonsfrom Bill Weldon

students share what Mountain Mission has meant to them5

News stories such as these are always troubling, but they give Mountain Mission even more motivation

to rescue young souls from dire circumstances.

The boys and girls who come to MMS are sometimes orphans, sometimes from broken or dysfunctional homes, sometimes from overwhelming poverty or dangerous lands. In society’s eyes, they have major strikes against them, major hurdles to clear.

But when they come to MMS they encounter love, security, encouragement…and high standards for behavior, achievement, and responsibility.

It’s been said that “if you want better men, raise better boys.” That’s just what we do at MMS. In fact, we’re actively seeking to turn our boys into leaders at a point in time when males constitute more than 90% of prison populations across the country.

It’s an ambitious goal, but one that our entire program is geared to support:

• Staff families live on each hall with MMS kids, providing a healthy family model that many of our residents never had before.

• Our campus culture provides a strong moral foundation and cultivates a solid work ethic, helping MMS kids grow into confident self-reliance.

• An extraordinary athletic program reinforces Christian values while inspiring boys toward genuine accomplishments.

• And, of course, our K-12 school equips our students for future success, with more than 90% of MMS kids going on to earn college degrees.

In short, we equip our young men to become contributing members of society—instead of becoming victims on the street, or becoming ensnared by welfare, juvenile detention, or jail.

Mountain Mission lifts boys (and girls) from circumstances that are difficult to escape: situations of poverty, broken homes, and physical danger. In so doing, we not only set those children on a straight path to productive lives, but also break cycles of dependency and reduce societal costs in the process.

As one of our current students recently remarked, “I know that I’ll be equipped to take care of my family one day because of Mountain Mission.”

On the following pages are stories of five young men whose lives and futures have been transformed by MMS. As you experience their words, please consider joining us in our work to “raise better boys” as we keep other young men from becoming statistics.

What’s the cost of doing nothing?

How much do you already pay for juvenile delinquency?

State government reports indicate that juvenile incarceration in Virginia costs an average of $326 per day—with costs in some localities reaching as high as $712 per day!* That’s an average of $260,000 per year per child that Virginia taxpayers must currently underwrite. (In many states, those figures are substantially higher.) So what is the cost of doing nothing? It’s a daunting combination of incarceration expenses, justice system costs, and public assistance payments, not to mention the other costs associated with crime, such as property loss and damage.

Success is less expensive than failure.

The difference in the median salary of a high school graduate versus a non-high school graduate amounts to $630,000 over a person’s lifetime, according to the U.S. Labor Department Statistics.

*Richmond, VA: Department of Juvenile Justice, 2013 Annual Expenditure Report

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I’m not supposed to be here right now, preparing to enter Dartmouth College, an Ivy League school, on a full academic scholarship. Statistics say young black men

at my age belong on the streets, in prison, or six feet under. Sadly, that’s where I picture my life, had I not been blessed to get my education in Mountain Mission.

I don’t claim to have seen the worst of this world, but I have seen enough to know that something has to be done. I want to be that blessing for that struggling child just as Mountain Mission was for me. I want to be the difference.

Luke 12:48 reads, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” I have been entrusted with much. And I understand what’s expected of me.

Ebenezer

“”

Before Mountain Mission School, everything in my life was

about to fall apart. I was about to be kicked out of my mentors’

house in Roanoke because of my behavior, and I was planning on

dropping out of school and going to live with my sister in Missouri.

But thankfully God had another plan.

His plan involved me graduating high school and going to college

to study to become an evangelist. The people at Mountain Mission

are such an inspiration to me, I will thank God for them every day,

as long as I live.

Nelson

“”

While at Mountain Mission School, I was blessed to be a part of the varsity basketball team, and with the help of the

school and the coaches, I received a scholarship to study and play basketball at Liberty University.

I love basketball, and ever since I started to play, I saw the talent that God has given me. I want to show him I am not wasting that talent. I would love to play professionally in the NBA or overseas, because I want to help my family. I also want to do it because I want to show my country, Colombia, that if you work hard for your dreams, anything is possible. But also I want to do it for God, because I know that all the things I have now have come from Him.

Hansel

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I went to one of the worst schools in Washington D.C.—and D.C. has some of the worst schools in the nation. The teachers cursed and screamed at the

students. I saw people selling weed during school. There were kids who wore ankle bracelets because they were under house arrest. The administration divided the school by race because they didn’t want gang fights, but they still couldn’t stop it.

For protection, I had to become someone else. I put on the mask of a tough guy. I didn’t talk much, just so nobody would mess with me.

I hated being there. I hated life.

At Mountain Mission School, I’ve been shown love and care. I’m able to be myself, play sports and enjoy time with friends. I am fed full and taught from the Bible. I’ve been shown right from wrong and have been taught great manners.

God has shown me he can protect and provide for me.

Nahom

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I had the privilege to be at Mountain Mission School for four years. But last year, due to my own poor choices, I was expelled.

Life after Mountain Mission has been an eye-opening experience for me. All my friends at home in Atlanta are now either drug dealers, in jail or dead. One of my best friends lost both parents and two brothers in the span of a month—and he’s nowhere to be found.

I realize now how special Mountain Mission School is and how all the school does is look out for the kids’ best interest. I used to believe some of the teachers at MMS didn’t care about me because they wouldn’t let me do my own thing. But I realize now all they were trying to do was get me out of my bad habits.

I hope all MMS students realize the opportunities the school provides are endless. I hope they realize how fortunate they are.

I would do anything to be in their shoes again.

Mike

William C. Weldon is the former Chairman of the Board and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, one of the largest and most respected companies in the world. He serves also on the boards of Exxon Mobil, JPMorgan Chase and CVS Caremark. Bill and his wife Barbara are longtime friends and supporters of Mountain Mission School, and we were honored to have him deliver our 2015 Commencement Address in June. Here are some key excerpts from that speech:

I was born in Brooklyn, New York. Not the Brooklyn of today, but a place where

things were not as easy as they are today. My parents worked hard to give my sister and myself what they could. Both were union workers. My mother was a seamstress, and my father was a stagehand. I’ve known hardships and struggles from an early age. I saw how hard my parents had to work so that they could care for us, nurture us and set an example for the way to live our lives.

I started at Johnson & Johnson as a sales representative. I worked hard and accepted every opportunity that was afforded me. I moved up the ladder one position after another, moving often and taking advantage of those who reached out to me and helped me throughout my career. A theme that ran through every aspect of my life was caring about people who worked with me, for me, and for my friends and family. And from those early years I took some life lessons with me:

1. LIFE IS A TEAM SPORT

Surround yourself with good people, decent people, industrious people, caring people. Be intentional with who you connect with and find mentors—people who can give you guidance. There are countless people out there who want to help you and want to help you succeed in life. Don’t think you have to figure everything out on you own. You don’t, and you’re not meant to.

2. BE A LIFELONG LEARNER

Never think that you know all there is to know about anything. The world is changing at an unprecedented rate today, and it is going to accelerate as we go. It can seem daunting, but don’t let that worry you. What you can do is continue to learn and continue to acquire new skills as you move ahead in life. That will keep your mind sharp, it will make you interesting, and it will make you valuable to the people around you.

3. GIVE BACK

Each of you has worked very hard to get where you are today, but along the way people have helped and supported you. You need to become one of those people, whether it’s supporting others at Mountain Mission School, finding a cause you are interested in, doing relief work, or impacting your home country. You may have heard of Jackie Robinson, the athlete who broke the color barrier in baseball. On his tombstone in Bronson, New York, is engraved a message for us to always remember: “A life not lived for others is a life not worth having lived.”

4. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND BELIEVE YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING YOU SET YOUR MIND TO

You can change the world, but you must believe and think positively. The world can be intimidating, challenging, scary—but exciting. Remember everyone else that goes out there is also intimidated and scared. It all comes down to meeting it head on, having a positive attitude and believing that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. If you do this, you truly can accomplish anything.

LESSONSfrom Bill Weldon

L I F E

You’ve just read the stories of young men who are headed to destinations such as Dartmouth College, Liberty University, and theological training. Young men

whose circumstances would likely have led to very different destinations, had it not been for Mountain Mission.

Our donors made all these stories possible, because it’s only through support from friends like you that we can do our work.

To house, feed, and educate our students costs Mountain Mission $15,000 per child (a remarkable contrast to the $260,000 per year it costs to incarcerate a juvenile in Virginia).

Won’t you help us sponsor a child and bring about the kinds of life-changing opportunities embodied by the young men on these pages? If a full-year sponsorship is beyond your reach, please consider a partial sponsorship of just $30 per month. Just $1 a day can help make success stories for other rescued kids.

It’s an investment that has extraordinary “ripple effects” which actually enable your gift to multiply over time. By keeping a young man out of the justice or welfare system, you’re likely keeping his future family from falling into those traps, as well. So in effect, you’re not only saving a productive life, you’re saving society thousands of dollars in public assistance or judicial system costs.

Every sponsorship dollar goes directly to assisting our students.

Hundreds of KidsNeed Mountain Mission.

And Mountain Mission

Perhaps most importantly, your gifts make more of an impression on our kids than you may ever know. Just listen to what a few of them have to say:

“People I don’t even know have made it possible for me to go to college and be a better person.”

“With all that Mountain Mission has done for me, there’s no reason for me NOT to succeed.”

”People who don’t even know you just giving you the best gift they can give you –wow, that really touches me.”

“Even though I might not know these people, realizing that there are people out there who really care about you, the message was clear: I mean, God is love and He does act

through people, and it was just really a blessing.”

Please help us to carry our work forward as we rescue kids, raise leaders, and reach nations for Christ. Visit our website, or use the attached envelope to begin your sponsorship today. Or for more information call Jayne Duehring at (276) 645-1457.

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Sam Hurley SocietyA Legacy of Hope

As Mountain Mission School approaches its 100th Anniversary in 2021, we are ever mindful of our beloved founder, Sam Hurley – a self-made man who started Mountain Mission School with a simple vision of “reclaiming the child.” Generations later that vision continues.

By including Mountain Mission in your will, your legacy lives and makes it possible for more children to live a life filled with faith, hope and love.

Will you consider providing a Legacy of Hope by including Mountain Mission School in your will?

Find more MMS stories daily on

For more information about joining the Sam Hurley Society, please contact:

Jayne Duehring, Director of Advancement(276) 645-1457 • jduehring@mmskids.org

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