Teens at Risk; Challenge Camp

When teens are in distress it is often due to anger issues. These can be a result of so many things, anything due to stress from home, problems

in school with bullying, pressure from peers, and self-esteem conflicts.  So many see no way out so resort to inappropriate coping skills.  We often see and meet many adults that do this as well. The jails are full of them as are the work place. Parents on the sidelines are screaming at their kids, being nasty to the referees, and bosses believing that cutting down their employees to size are the way to lead.

The value system established at a young age is instrumental in shaping a young person’s life. Getting them started on a path of not only self-discovery but goal setting and action steps is so very important with today’s youth.  To teach a teen how  to overcome the haphazard and hurdles they are sure to face in this world is to build a better tomorrow for all of us. It may lead to happiness, success and the lack of total despair so many face.

Thus, many have heard my husband and I talk about Midcourse Correction Challenge Camp in Michigan.  We established a fund there in honor of my step-son, my husband and his ex-wife’s Kay’s only son, Dan Bronold.  This is to give Dan’s life a legacy of helping others accomplish what he could not, a chance of breaking free from a stereo-type of trouble-maker.  He had what so many suffer from in our youth in society, the lack of thinking he could be someone bigger than who he was and never really believing in himself. The potential was always there if he had only had found the faith. This Camp does that to so many and it helps parents reach their kids in a different kind of way.

We wanted to reach out to let folks know that support this camp the mailing address for donations has changed. So whether you give in support of Dan’s fund or just give to reach youth at risk, please pass this changed address on.

Midcourse Correction Challenge Camp

Attn:  Dan Bronold Memorial Fund

833 E. Grand River Ave.

Howell, MI  48843

Gratitude Letter to Dan

When you give, you shall receive. When you lose something, give something back to see it multiple.

I have always believed this to be true but thought heart ache and pain sometimes struggle believing it. Today, amidst the tears streaming down my face, am reminded just how true this is.

My blog shall be simple and to the point.  I am not in much of a position to write more.

Many know that after my step-son, my husband Jim’s only son, Dan 

Bronold died we set up a memorial scholarship in his name, The Daniel 

Bronold Memorial Scholarship Fund. This money was donated to an organization to help offset costs needed for young men to attend Midcourse Correction Challenge Camp in Brighton, Michigan. So many your teens are turned away each year because they can’t afford the fees.  The fee is set at a minimal amount to cover simply the costs as this organization is a nonprofit. Many of  the employees were past graduates of the program who have gone on with their lives, gotten degrees and returned later on in life to work there.

This is a no nonsense camp full of a weekend of tough love, team building, and goal setting.  For many troubled teens, this is the last stop to try to get them on the right path. Most are on a collision course with self-destruction and many don’t care or know how to turn it around.  Sometimes the parents don’t either and need the help also.

The program is Christian based, which is something we liked and knew Dan would approve of also.  We wanted to pick something we felt Dan would be proud of and enjoy having his name associated with and this seemed perfect.  This fund would give some guys a chance before it was too late that might not  be able to attend otherwise.    And since the years of Dan’s death, the Executive Director, Richard Woods, lets us know each year the donors, amounts and the number of folks that benefit from the funding.  We are privileged to hear some of the stories without giving enough information to breach anyone’s privacy.  He also shares Dan’s story as an example of why it is best to turn your life around before it is too late.

Today, we were blessed beyond belief. A single mother asked for our name and wanted to write us directly.  I don’t feel comfortable sharing her letter as it was intimate.  It was forwarded to use through the Executive Director as he  is not giving out our contact information to anyone either but the essence of the letter was to thank us.  She wanted to let us know that without our money her son wouldn’t have attended camp. With his attendance, his life has completely changed.  Their relationship has turned in ways she never thought possible.  She feels like God has touched him in a very special place and turned the light on in her son.  They have reached a new level of understanding, her joy and gratefulness is so heartful in the letter.  She wants us to know that her and her son will never forget Dan and the Fund and us.  Her letter shows us that Dan is touching lives in a way that we can both indeed can be proud of.

There have been times, over the months and years, we have been disappointed that we can’t raise more money that we are many times, and the only one donating to the Memorial we set up. But we remind ourselves, if all we do is save one teen, if it was just one Dan that would be enough!  If one parent is spared the pain, if one person is not dying as Dan did, that is enough so our donation, several times a year will suffice.  We want to be sure we are doing what we can also to spare a parent from the pain of being on the receiving end of a phone call, from wondering if they did all they could and of not having any holidays left to celebrate with their child ever again. 

This letter confirmed our conviction that the Memorial Fund was the way to ensure we are making a difference in people’s lives, in children’s and in parents. Dan’s name is helping kids turn their lives around and get a new lease on life.  It was and is the just and right thing to do. As long as there is a memorial fund in his name, Dan Bronold’s legacy lives on!  And as the mother said in the close of her letter, her and her son will forever be grateful to Dan, dead or alive to them, he is always alive!

God bless you Dan always in heaven for what your spirit is doing!   Love always!  

If you would like to learn more about Midcourse Correction Challenge Camp, visit http://www.midcoursecorrection.org/

To donate to the fund, Send donations to:

Midcourse Correction Challenge Camp

Attn:  Dan Bronold Memorial Fund

833 E Grand River Ave

Howell, MI 48843

Stay the Course - Not Just Midway but All the Way

Jim and I are adamant about supporting the Midcourse Correction Challenge Camp in Michigan.  Many that follow my blog or know me personally are aware that I did a great deal of research into their organization.  I wanted to try to determine which program in Michigan my step-son Dan would see as the most reflective of  what he would have wanted for himself and others to help  make it ‘through the rain’, the trials in his life. 

This organization was a clear stand out. Talking to Richard Wood, the Executive Director only put an exclamation point to the decision.  Never have we looked back.  Thus, though little funds have been garnished, to date, for the fund we started in Jim’s son’s name, we are steadfast in our commitment in doing what we can do support and promote this Camp. 

To that end, I want to share a few recent stories to come out of Midcourse I learned of recently, since my last writing on the Camp.  In addition to their Challenge Camps they also have a much more intense Honor Company program attendees can return to.  This is far better explained by visiting their site, listed below. 

This Honor Company program shows just 

how much progress can be made with 

teens after attending the first camp. 

This is not a spa treatment facility.   To willingly come back for a more intense version is a clear indication that these young people recognize it has real value in their life.  It may be a boot camp, but motivation and insight is accomplished.

At a recent Camp, one young man spoke to the Director about how he had been released from drug use finally.  Life begins anew for this young man now, free from the bondage of drug use and put on a new course to live with goals in place.  How can this be accomplished in a weekend camp?  Ask yourself if the cost is too much to pay?  Would you want to help someone live drug free for a small token of change?

Another attendee had returned a few weeks ago and proudly showed how his failing grades from his attendance at the first camp were now all B’s.  He had come, that first time, literally kicking and screaming in a car, restrained.  Now, this same young man is like many others that attend and leave this fine program, forever changed. Attending the Honor Company, he was seen hugging his parents, asking for forgiveness and committed to knowing his steps now are the path to a good direction.   A life is saved, he came screaming at one time and is leaving smiled and invigorated.  In my book, that is a miracle. 

Many know that the leader of the organization, Richard Wood,  has a heart of gold.  His staff is full of good people on a mission. He not only believes in the program, he genuinely cares about the parents and the teens. We feel blessed to know our donations are guided by his hands, by his heart.  We know Dan’s name is saving spirits that might otherwise be diminished like his shortened life was. 

As a couple, we are not financially well off, by any stretch, but with the little we have; we find something to give to this fund several times a year, Dan Bronold Memorial Scholarship Fund.  We quit asking others to give nearly as much because we saw such a lack of response.  If you don’t give to this program, we understand but please find another one you will support. These young misguided teens, if not straightened out, can become tomorrow’s criminals on the street, full of hate.  That anger can be turned inward or outward. They need help, they need direction, and they need a place like Midcourse to put them on the right course. 

And we also pray that when they are misguided they are not put in a jail cell in isolation and left there with nothing to help them sort their thoughts out.  This Camp believes they can prevent those unhappy endings. We believe it too, infact, we are hearing about it often.  Amen.

  For more information, visit their site:  http://www.midcoursecorrection.org/