Dear friend,
If you visited our campus today, you
would be greeted at our main administration building. You would
visit some of our historical sites such as our well, chapel, and
shrine. You might tour our museum and meet some of our staff and
volunteers. You might also encounter small groups of well-behaved,
smiling young ladies. They would be attending school, enjoying meals
with their peers, joking with friends, and heading off to day trips,
appointments, volunteer work, or jobs.
Our
youngsters are busy every day with cottage chores, school and homework,
individual counseling and group activities, jobs, volunteering,
and, in their limited free time, hobbies like reading, sketching,
crochet, and sports. The campus is usually bustling with life with
our youngsters moving from school to lunch to cottages to evening
activities. The only time the campus is quiet is on weekends when
everyone sleeps in! (to left, the view of the Hudson
River from our administration balcony)
What this peaceful scene does not show
you, though, is the tragedy and pain that has filled the past of
many of our young people. At
Saint Cabrini Home, we know that a childs smile can hide unspeakable
horrors. On the surface, things may seem normal. A young person
might appear to be happy and carefree. But those of us who have
worked with troubled youth know that one moment can mean the difference
between laughing and crying. One memory, one reminder, or troubled
recollection can bring about the same type of post traumatic stress
that many combat veterans experience.
Abuse, neglect, and abandonment issues
haunt many of the young people we serve, and this bubbles up from
time to time during the therapeutic process. We expect this to happen,
and our clinicians are all well trained to help our youngsters to
overcome a painful moment and use the difficulty to help them better
understand how to cope in the future.
Each youngster in our programs has their
own story to tell. Some stories are worse than others. Some of our
young people were victims of crimes while they were very small children.
Others lived in marginally functioning families or families with
drug or alcohol abuse occurring in the home. Some may not even have
a traumatic past that we are aware of, but their current behavior
reveals some kind of problem that hasn’t yet been identified.
Luckily,
young people are resilient. I have seen some boys and girls
move beyond terrible abuse to become happy adults at peace with
themselves, their families, and their pasts.
But moving forward from a painful past
takes a lot of time and personal attention from people who understand
and are trained in the process of healing. While our youngsters
are happy most of the time going about their daily routines, I,
my Sisters, and our staff are always prepared for the moment—which
could come at any time and without notice—when one of our children
goes into crisis.
These
are the moments when a lot of progress toward healing can be made.
These are the moments, painful and disruptive as they are, that
help us get to the root of the problem and offer a chance for the
youngster to find a new way to cope with their memories. This is
what we do, every day. (to left, some of our dedicated
clinicians who work with our young people)
You
can support our work by making a gift to Saint Cabrini Home. Please
consider making a gift to support our work with children and teens.
You can make it happen. Thank you.
Sister Damien Ciminera, MSC