Welcome to the Louisiana United Methodist Children's Home Outdoor Wilderness Learning Center, or better known as the OWL Center.  The above plaque tells you when the property for the Center was donated, and by whom, and what others did to develop it, but let me tell you a more about the mission of the Center and those that work here.

There are three UMC Children's homes in Louisiana.  One is down close to New Orleans, one in central Louisiana, and the one here in Ruston, Louisiana where we are.  The one here in Ruston is the largest with usually around 95 to 100 young people as residence at one time.  The home has both dormitory and house living facilities.  There is also a complete school for middle through high school aged youth.  This home is not an orphanage.  It is a home for young people that come from abusive home situations, and for those that have had a run in with the law.  Sharon and I have been here at the OWL several times and have had the opportunity to tour the home each time we have been here.  It is wonderful to see that there are facilities, and people, that care enough for our troubled youth to provide the living and educational opportunities to them that are here at the home.  The young people will stay at the home until they are able to safely go back home, or until 18 when they are no longer considered a child.  The home does, however, have programs for those that want to go to college, or need help in getting started out on their own.

There are so many stories that I could tell you about the many successes, and sorrows, of the youth that live, and leave the home, but I can't.  But I will tell you a quick one.  On one trip to the home we met some young ladies that lived in a small area of the home away from the rest of those their.  These girls were considered some of the worst of the worst when they were sent to the home either by parents, or courts.  We were just supposed to be visiting the living area, but were surprised to see that some of the girls were there.  Four girls, and their counselor were sitting in a small break room, when they saw us, the counselor invited us in for a visit.  These young ladies were 16 and 17 year olds.  They had all been sent there from the court systems for violent offenses.  From their warm welcome you would not believe what they told us about their backgrounds.  They were more than willing to tell us about their life at the home.  One of the girls told us about some posters that were on the wall.  These posters actually were charts that listed the progress the girls were making changes in their lives.  The charts listed things like making beds on a daily basis, cleaning their rooms, school progress, and other daily responsibilities.  The one young lady that told us about the charts beamed when she pointed to her name at the top of the list for making the best progress for that week.  It was the first time she had achieved that status.  Another girl showed us a list of things that the girls were trying to improve upon for the week.  She pointed out that she wanted to get up each morning early enough to complete her devotion time and to make it to breakfast on time.  I didn't think much about that until I talked with one of the counselors later that day.  He told us that the girls determine these improvement areas and for her to decide to make her devotions and getting to breakfast was a big step for her in her progress.  The things we take for granted, others take as a major change in their lives. 

Now on to the OWL Center.  The OWL Center consist of about 800 acres located about 15 miles north of Ruston, Louisiana.  The property is mostly forested, with the rest pasture.  The center war originally designed to benefit the youth of the Louisiana Methodist Children's Home with therapeutic and recreational programs, but now also serves churches, schools, businesses, community groups, and families.  The facility's conference center is often the site or weddings, school functions , family reunions birthday parties, conferences, retreats, and corporate training events.  Approximately 10,000 people go through the center's gates annually, most are from the Ruston area.  The director of the center says that the center is focused on the community and getting the community involved.  The Center is open to the public for many uses. 

The Center includes a pond, equine center, maze, pavilion, bunkhouse that sleeps 40, cabins, conference center with full commercial kitchen, greenhouse, and a playing field.  OWL activities include high-and-low-ropes courses, equine assisted learning, horsemanship classes, swimming, boating fishing hiking, biking, and just sitting quietly in the serene setting.  There are also summer camps for youngsters, outdoor education programs that are correlated to local school grade-level equivalent requirements, and a horticulture program.

All programs at the OWL center are designed to encourage teamwork, family bonds, character development, education, and fun.  Staff-lead activities allow participants to think through how to successfully communicate with and work with one another to accomplish a task.


NOMADS are invited here twice a year to help with many projects.  The times that Sharon and I have been here we have worked on many different projects.  We have helped in the green house where the Center raises ferns that are sold for fund raising for the Center.  We have helped clear stumps and brush from under the zip lines on the confidence course.  We have helped replace fencing that was old, and installed new fencing around pasture land.  We have helped make salsa and jellies, another money making project for the Center.  Both the salsa and jellies are some of the best I have ever had.  We always leave here with cases of salsa.  Painting is always an ongoing need, both inside and outside.  This project period we are installing a lot of new fencing and helping the staff get ready for the dedication of a new horse arena.  The new horse arena was donated by a large corporation, one of the many benefactors to the Center.  As Betty, a "snowbird" NOMAD volunteer from Michigan, has been coming to the OWL center for several years, says about the center: "I believe in the center's mission.  You've got to set goals and move toward them together or you're not going to make it in this world.  helping people develop the skills to "make it" is the heart of the OWL adventure.

As you can tell we also love the experience here at the OWL center.  We have been here on four different projects and are signed up for another next spring. 

Let me take you on a tour of the OWL Center.

The first thing you see when you enter the Center is the green house.  This is where the staff grow ferns from small cuttings to large hanging baskets overflowing with ferns.  Other plants are also started in the green house for planting in the spring, such as tomatoes.

The next facility is the Pavilion.  The Pavilion is located next to the ball/activity field.  The Pavilion has a complete indoor kitchen, and several outdoor grills.  A great place for large group picnics, and sometimes for family reunions.

The NOMADS parking area for our RVs is just across the road from the Pavilion.

Another facility is the large conference center.  The conference center can seat up to three hundred people for a meeting, or seat 200 at tables for a luncheon.  A large commercial kitchen with walk in freezer, commercial dish washer, gas stove and oven, and all the pots and pans any good cook would want.

The view from the front porch of the conference center overlooks two very nice lakes.  Did a little fishing in these this past week.  More on the fishing later.

There are many different animals at the Center.  Sharon is showing the calf how to put out it's tongue so she can feed it some vegetable leaves. 

As I mentioned earlier, part of the confidence building is through learning how to care for horses and other animals.  There is a complete tack room and class room next to the stables.

This is a view from the back of the tack room.  These two horses are used in some of the initial contact that youth from the home will encounter.  They are old and very tame.

And they really love attention.

 

I was going to tell and show you what we have been doing for the past week and a half, but this turned out to be a rather lengthy posting.  I will wait and tell more about what we have, and are going to be doing here at the OWL Center.  I will tell you we have been working hard.

 

So until the next posting, you all take care, and remember,

 

God Does Love You, yes You.

 

Gary