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NEW HORIZONS YOUTH MINISTRIES IN U.S. & ABROAD |
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New horizons youth ministries In u.s. and abroad
SURVIVOR
REPORTS
Report
One: By Anonymous Survivor (We will forward appropriate messages to this
survivor,
e-mail
us.)
I
testify that everything in my statement is true.
I give HEAL permission to use my statement.
In
1981 and 1982 I attended Escuela Caribe in the Dominican Republic, an
overseas boarding school owned by Pastor Gordon Blossom of New Horizon's
Youth Ministries Marion, Indiana. Based on my experience as a student,
staff members of NHYM and Escuela Caribe are definitely abusive.
A
staff member, Brenda Wheeler of the girl's house (Starr House), could
not find her money and a packet of jello turned up missing. The
housefather Phil Redwine (now indirectly serving as a director- his name
is not listed but students say he still is) forced us to wake up very
late in the night (2am? we had no watches) and do push ups and
calisthenics until dawn. As dawn broke we were individually led into a
room alone with a staff member and forced to name a student who we
thought stole the items. A new student was singled out, Lynn Stallworth
of Panama. Staff members forced us to strip the accused student naked
and scrub her body under cold water with very harsh laundry brushes. We
were later paired up and tied to each other until someone confessed.
Turned out that a Dominican laundry woman working for the school had
taken the items. A house mother of the boys house, Thomas House,
observed recently stolen items in her possession. Solitary confinement
and "Mr Brown", a thick leather strap were used for
punishments such as talking back or failure to clean to school
standards. We were not allowed to speak or write of any of these things
while we were in the school or our communication privileges were
threatened. After sharing these things with my mother over 20 years
later she admitted that she had no idea this kind of stuff was going on
and never would have sent me. New Horizon's Youth Ministries never had a
certified child psychologist available for any students or staff in need
of guidance, though therapy was essential to our healing.
I
ask that under all circumstances, my name and contact info stand as
confidential, available only through direct permission from me.
SURVIVOR REPORT #2
By D. L. (We will forward appropriate messages to this
survivor,
e-mail
us)
Everything in my statement is true. I give HEAL permission to
use my statement. I was a
student in New Horizons Youth Ministries from mid 1979- mid
1983, also, the oldest student they ever accepted. They usually
range from 12 -18, but was almost 19 when starting.
I was first of all deceived by the Founder, Gordon Blossom,
who showed me pictures of fun and unity, and really didn't know
what to say, because it seemed too good to be true - getting my
education in the Caribbean. I had "no" idea what I was in
for. Thinking that this program was located somewhere near a beach,
I found myself in the mountains of Jarabacoa.
The
first day of being in LaJolla House, was introduced to their point
system, where you had to obtain a certain amount of points, plus do a
bunch of Scripture memory verses and calesthenics to receive your
levels . The higher you went (4th and 5th), you then needed to get 100%
of the house's votes. Having to be on 0 level for the first two weeks,
noticed this guy was fronting when it was his time to try and earn 4th
level, thus, I was confronted by my House Father, even after
telling him my thoughts, he received it , then thought that this
program was not for me. I thus bucked the system the whole time I
was involved , and then was targeted for "being negative" having
" an authority problem", and insubordinate. As you will read ,
fronting is one key to " success".
The longer being in the Dominican Republic, they more they tried
to have me conform , where it got to the point where I had to do an
excessive amount of cals, or depending on the house , awoke to
stand under a cold shower for about 20 minutes to a 1/2 hour. There were
also things called casita runs, where, depending on which house you were
at , ( being at their mountain location), had to run up and down a 45-50
degree slope , touch the door of the Founder's casita and then do
them again.
One
time, being in Quemado House, we had troubles in passing house
inspection, where if we didn't pass this one time, spent our
"free day" climbing Mount Megote, twice. Also being in
this house , a cocky new student didn't like me for some reason
and initiated a boxing match. Not
knowing that I boxed ( having gloves at home , and also being left
handed) two punches later, he declined, and then for some reason
left Escuela Caribe- lucky bugger! I had so much hate and
frustration in me, actually provoked more of the fight, but was
held off.
I'm
not sure exactly, but I believe it was every 6 months, we had a
thing called "work week" where we would spend approximately 8
hours a day improving the real estate by busting up rocks and
having to haul them, or at one time TKB was in the process of being
completed, and we had to move the landscape back so in case of a land
slide, etc. I believe doing this only prolonged my real desire in
wanting to get my education.
Bud Teare was known as the biggest threat amongst staff,
being the Program Director in Marion, and their summer program in
Canada. He was even flown down and thus could hear him yelling at
students, slamming them around, to finally receive swats,
where you had to be on your kness, lean over a chair, to receive up to
ten. I had my first run in with him in Canada.
Part of getting good points was having to rat on other students,
where in time you would find yourself being ratted on because of they
being retaliatory. So, another part of the program was to
demoralize and humiliate others.
Being 21 now, and not imparting to me that I actually had
the legal right to leave their outfit in the Dominican Republic, actually
packed my suitcase and started heading out the door, where I was stopped
by my house father, restrained by having him lock the door, and then
having been driven by the Program Director to the main campus (on
the outskirts of down town ) to be yelled at, given a hair
cut, and then swats. Afterwards, was "trusted" to walk back to
the mountain . Being in the town, wanted to veer right, but strayed left
knowing that it would have only gotten worse.
There was one time as we were driven from the main campus
to our house in the mountain, I was restrained from looking out
the window as we went through the town to the outskirts, because of
looking at Dominican women as we went through. This went on for weeks at
a time.
After 2 and 1/2 years in the DR was shipped to to
their campus in Marion, Indiana. I had thought about wanting to run
away once a few of us got to Miami, but what I really thought of
was trying to get my high school diploma. So, resided there
for a while. The abuse was still apparent, but not as bad, to
where I had enough and walked off the campus. Approximately
four months later was persuaded to go back and "F" the program
and get my education. So, went back to eventually have to pack up
and we went to their program in Missanabie, Ontario, Canada.
One day passing by Bud, he thought I was being condescending on
his "authority" and slammed me against the tool shed, having
left a huge dent in one of it's doors. Another time, was forced to pick
up a freshly cut 300 lb log by myself to haul it the saw. My squad
having to carry a "squad log" I tried to pass them , and
accidently tapped my house father on his shoulder . He then had them put
the log down and yelled at me for quite some time. Because of
wearing a red flannel shirt, you could now hear people bellow,"Red shirt,
red shirt's coming!" sometimes a little added , "Watch
out!" was being heard for weeks, obviously having to
wear it for that amount of time, and not being able to wash it.
There were other situations I witnessed in the DR with other
students, where if you should type www.isaccorp.com
, instances that they describe fit to a tee (for example, watching a
girl having to scrub a stone on the main campus' floor with a tooth
brush).
Having picketed NHYM on 09/30/06-10/01/06, as they were
celebrating Founder's Day, we had a TV news team and
newspaper come and interview us. One of my signs was,
"Deception Breeds Corruption And I'm Just "1" Who
Was Deceived !
Having seen an earlier news clipping , where isaccorp has it
posted , Tim, CEO, also son of the Founder, said "You can't
abuse kids , it doesn't work!" where another one I wrote was
"So You Don't Abuse, Huh?" Watching students today walk to the main
building , there were some who gave us the thumbs up , which one gal
said it was worth having to fly from Georgia just to see that.
Because he knows my family in quite the personal way, invited me
to breakfast on 10/02 and I told him that his father deceived
me. He agreed and said that they don't do that anymore . Should you
click on to www.nhym.com , you
will still see pictures of fun, and on their Escuela Caribe
section, some guy diving off a cliff , which is deceiving as to
what is actually entailed.
He also mentioned that they abolished swats, where my thoughts /
concerns are now, what do they use for corporal punishment, knowing of
the other facets used- if now extending them.
Being an alumni on
www.nyhm-alumni.org
, we are doing our best to stop the abuse that still happens as more and
more alumni register with us, maybe being to eventually shut them down; my
being a definite foundation , because of who I really am, and
because of the involvement my family had with them ( even donating money
to making Lare House).
I
find it ironic, knowing that this program didn't essentially help at
all, even having to be disowned by my father, why their involvement was
the way it was.
Phil Redwine, a couple of years ago, said that I didn't
need to be in the DR where they left me there to basically rot in their
oppressive atmosphere. Also, having a life changing experience, where a
dictionary finally helped me to identify that one thing , (because of my
upbringing and life overall) was, that I suffered from oppression,
which literally had this cloud lift from me, tripling my ability to
inhale, and has now allowed a totally different perspective . Anyways,
he knew I was oppressed, but didn't do anything to help - his
comment being , he didn't know how to handle it: in the meantime
watching me make a fool of myself, but today know I wasn't being
foolish.
Should they read this, they would know who it was that wrote this
. So, I don't care if you show my name as to anonymity. As a matter of
fact I would have it that you post me on the web , so parents can
see that this stuff happens and not have to now spend $6,000 a month to
have their child end up like this, and eventually on the Alumni web
site, describing their instances of abuse, that obviously still happens.
I
think it great that you help in warning others, but are not actually
helping us having to do the dirty work to shut this
place down. I'm just imparting my reasoning why I am placing this
testimony with you and there are still students today in the DR,
suffering from this program
I have actually made a Declaration also to isaccorp , describing
my instances. This is actually more descriptive, but the content still
is the same.
SURVIVOR REPORT #3
By Jenny Littlejohn (If you'd like to send an
appropriate message to Jenny, we will forward it.
E-mail
Us.)
Everything in my statement is true.
I give HEAL permission to use my statement.
I
was a student sent to NHYM in December 2004. I was an adopted child who
was severely abused physically and sexually in my earlier childhood. I
was sent to the program because I could not bond with my adoptive
parents due to the abuse before they received me. I worked hard to push
everyone away because I could not trust anyone. I went to the program to
learn how to trust and love again. I never participated in drugs,
alcohol, or promiscuous behavior before entering the program. The
program promised my parents that I would receive certified educated
counseling. I would be shown how to love again and how to accept my past
and learn that not everyone was out to get me. The program how ever
laughed in my face the moment my parents left. As a new student I was
ridiculed, told I was fat (I was 128lbs ), had my hair cut against my
will by Matt Allen, a house father in Pitts house. I had to ask
permission to step in every room. I.e. "May I please step into the
living room, May I please step into the kitchen ect." Then I had to
do 15 push-ups before I entered each room. If I had to go to the
bathroom I had 30 sec to urinate and 1 min 45 sec for a bowel movement.
I got one square of toilet to urinate and 3 for my bowel movement. In
"school" we were forced to self teach. I was given books with
a list of the weeks assignments. The teachers in the class were not
knowledgeable of the subjects, and being that the class room consisted
of anything from 6th grade to 12th we could be of no help to each other.
If I was not able to achieve a grade "B" or above, I was
punished. This later resulted in me attending the last half of my senior
year once I left the program) and being behind in a normal high school.
I attended with a fellow housemate who had been molested by one of our
house fathers and instead of supporting her, the school made her feel as
if she encouraged and caused it. I spent many nights, up all night long
doing "units" (25 push-ups, 25 squat-thrusts, 25 mountain
climbers, 25 sit-ups, and 25 jumping-jacks) and getting to rest in
push-up position before beginning again. I was pushed, jabbed in the
chest and ridiculed in front of my house mates. My parents received
monthly reports of my progress. Once I came home and found the stack of
reports, I began to get angry. The reports told of house trips, shopping
trips and movies. They said they took us to the zoo and the children's
resume. I even found where they asked my parents to send in a set amount
of money for my personal use each month, like an allowance. My parents
sent in the money and I never received it. Nor did I ever take these
"fun trips" that my parents thought I was taking. They also
told my parents that I was not doing well and that they recommended that
I continue the program because I was constantly lying and "bucking
authority:. They said I flirted with the boys and caused problems. None
of this was true. In fact I was scared of men due to my abuse. I never
even had my FIRST BOYFRIEND until I was 20years old. Then In Canada at
NHYM's wilderness camp, we were given 1 bucket of lake water and this
was all we could use to bathe with. We washed our clothes on rocks with
scrub brushes. When we were punished we were placed at the end of a dock
and 3 or 4 house fathers surrounded us and screamed at us all the while
pushing us closer to the edge of the dock and eventually in the lake. We
then had to tread water while they continued to scream. Eventually we
were yanked out and forced to do pushups while being soaking wet( oh
yeah, and we had on boots, jeans, a t-shirt and a flannel shirt) if we
couldn't then we were pushed back in and started all over.
We worked long hours,8 a day, hauling logs and making board walks
and much more. While in Canada my father passed away. I was told later
that my mom was told that I could only go home for the day of the
funeral and that my mom was not to cater to my emotions that I would
only be crying for attention and not be truly grieving. I went home the
night before the funeral and went back to Canada the day of. When I got
back Larry Ponder, my house father, and Lori Rehem, my house mother,
told my cabin that no one was aloud to talk to me about my father and
that they were to ignore me and tell them if I tried. I was not aloud to
grieve. This created further anger and less of a desire to love and
grow. In counseling I could talk about nothing that was bothering me
because they told me that unless I behaved to their standards I would
never be ready to deal with my issues. Now correct me if I am wrong....
But wasn't I pushing away from my family because I did not know how to
deal with the pain in my past and wouldn't I need to deal with that pain
and over come the hurt in order to feel safe enough to trust someone and
love them. Didn't they have it backwards? Then I fell and injured my
patella (in my knee) and was taken to the hospital. The hospital staff
were so concerned at how unhealthy I looked and how unclean I was and by
how bad I smelled ( due to not being aloud to properly take showers)
that Canada's CPS was called. A staff of NHYM was able to reach me
before the CPS worker arrived and told me that my life would be
miserable the rest of the summer if I made one complaint to the CPS
worker. I was forced to tell her that I was being obstinate to the rules
and was refusing to clean myself and that I had done it for attention.
The staff then told the CPS worker that they were addressing my
disobedience. None of this was true. I had not refused to clean myself.
I was then sent to Hymn's Dominican program Escuella Caribe. Here I was
forced to run casitas which was a mountainous hill at a 55-60 degree
angle. we were timed and if we didn't do it in time we started over. I
have a disease called "Erythema Nodosum". This is much like
lupus except that it usually attacks the legs. It causes huge sores and
muscle pain. Your White blood cells begin to attack each other. At any
point I suffered from this and yet they would not grant me leniency on
running and exercise. Then there was Mr.. Brown, the leather paddle used
to swats kids. There never was any set reason as to why it was used. You
could be swatted for anything ranging from back talking to looking at
something or something wrong. You were enforced to bend over and grab
your ankles while your house father watched and were spanked. If you
fell over or cried out you received additional swats. The most I
received at one time was 11 swats because Phil Redwine hit me so hard I
kept falling over. I was bruised for weeks. There is also a "QR"
room which means quiet room where they put you for solitary confinement.
We were placed there in our
underwear and bra if it applied and left there to scrub pots and pans
until they were clean enough for approval. We were forced to machete
fields of tall grass for 6-8 hours a day. And dig holes. There were
times when the holes began to fill up with water due to rain and we
still had to stand in them and dig. All this time my mother was given
completely false facts about what was going on and I had the fear of
swats from the program placed on me if I told her any different. I was
even humiliated in front of my class
mates. I was sick with the runs and had asked my teacher if I
could use the restroom. He refused. I could not help it but it poured
out of me and I went in my pants (diarrhea). Instead of helping me I was
yelled at and forced to wear them all day. He made me stand in front of
the class and told the class that I had done it on purpose so that they
would be miserable and that I was tiring to get out of doing my school
work. I had to wear them for 4 or 5 more hours. After I got back to the
house and cleaned up I received swats for insubordination, 3 casitas and
was demoted to zero level. I also lost my free day and had to go to TKB
house to work while my house got free day. I finally left the program
August of 1997. I was a bitter, hurt and angry girl with no self esteem.
My parents believed me to be a failure because the program told them I
was. Although now, 9.5
years later, I am finally proud of who I am
working on a bachelors in criminal justice and engaged to a
wonderful Christian man, and is it
thanks to New Horizons ? NO!! It's thanks to God and my two
beautiful little boys. They showed me to love and trust. They taught me
that I am not a bad person . New horizens did none of they only
reinforced what I was taught as a 4yr old little girl being raped over
and over again, that I was a nobody, nothing , a waist of time. I pray
that this story helps someone else who is grieving and hurting. You are
not alone. Jenny Littlejohn
SURVIVOR REPORT #4 I, Anonymous, declare and state as follows: 1. New Horizons Youth Ministries 2. Marion Indiana and Canada 3. 1981 to 1984
4. I was a student at NHYM in Marion Indiana and Canada from 1981 to
1984. I seen and dealt with abuses there that a child in any normal home
should not have to endure. I witnessed a married female staff member
having sex with a student. When I brought it to Bud Teares attention the
female and her husband were allowed to threaten me. I was then
threatened if I contacted authorities. I was forced to stand in the
middle of a circle of approx. 10 male students and allow them to beat
the crap out of me while we wore boxing gloves. This was their idea of
punishment. We were forced to clean our rooms only to have the house
father or Budd Teare come in and destroy the entire house and we would
have to do it again, and again. The abuse was not only physical but
emotional. I did graduate from high school
only because of fear of the repercussions if I failed anything in
school. While in Canada we were forced to build cabins for them to house
future students. I believe this is a form of
child labor and if they had been forced to pay a company to come
in and build these cabins, it would've cost them several thousands of
dollars. If any parent had done these things to their child they
would've found themselves in prison. It amazes me that Budd Teara now
works for Indiana Wesleyan University.
It is my personal belief that these facilities should be closed and the
individuals that are running them should be investigated and prosecuted. I give HEAL permission to use this statement. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on June 2, 2009.
________________________________ Anonymous [To contact the author, e-mail HEAL and we will forward your message. No abusive or harassing messages will be forwarded. [PRIVATE] [PRIVATE] [PRIVATE] [PRIVATE] SPECIAL NOTE: STATUTE DOES NOT REQUIRE NOTARY]
If you were abused or had your rights violated at New Horizons Youth Ministries (any of their programs, U.S. or Abroad), please e-mail your personal testimonial to us so we may post it as a warning to others here. E-mail us for details at: info@heal-online.org.
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