Freedom School runs into financial bind

By Tanner Kent
Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO November 26, 2008 12:57 am

— “Just tell people I’m grateful — grateful for my life.”
That’s Jake Anderson. And that’s his message to the community.
As one of 24 students at Mankato Central Freedom School — which combines therapeutic and academic services for chemically dependent teens — Anderson is in jeopardy of losing his life support.
Freedom School was established three years ago after agreeing with the Mankato Area School District to make up any yearly budget deficit through fundraising. Before opening its doors, school officials raised $250,000 in community donations to act as a reserve fund to cover such deficits.
This year, the school received $166,000 in state and federal funds — barely enough to cover the salaries of its small staff, let alone $233,000 in expenditures. The reserve is nearing depletion and, without renewed financial support, Freedom may end up like other sober schools statewide that have been discontinued due to lack of funding.
In response, the school’s Executive Committee has intensified its fundraising efforts in hopes of bringing in $150,000 by Dec. 1 to ensure the school’s current programming level and long-term stability.
“We want to give students and staff some assurance that the school is in good control for the next two or three years,” Rans said. “I think the community knows how much it can help these young people.”
Natalie Rosenberg certainly knows.
Now a freshman studio art major at Bethany Lutheran College, Rosenberg said she was at “rock bottom” and had “pretty much given up on myself” just a few years ago. But after making the decision to check herself into treatment, Rosenberg found hope at Freedom School.
While there, she developed her artistic side, designing the well-known recovery mural in Freedom’s hallway, and caught back up with her coursework. Rosenberg graduated last June and is exhibiting her first art show this month at Bliss coffee shop.
“There were probably no options for me without Freedom,” said Rosenberg, who will celebrate two years of sobriety in February. “Otherwise I would have been at my home school with the same people and same temptations. At Freedom, the temptation didn’t exist, and I was able to find peace and serenity.”
Curriculum for Freedom students includes several therapy components in both group and individual settings. Peer support is a crucial part of the program with students monitoring each other’s recovery and providing encouragement. The students also perform services in the community and have several hours of class each day.
The effect is an educational program designed to meet all the needs of the recovering student.
“With our smaller classrooms and intimate environment, we can reach students individually,” said Leah Root, one of two alcohol and drug counselors who work at Freedom in addition to two full-time teachers. “Any student who enrolls here can find the resources to succeed.”
Steven Blazing, who is also an alcohol and drug counselor at Freedom, has worked at sober schools that have been closed.
The most debilitating effect on students, he said, is the loss of a sober peer group. Students who return to their home schools too soon run severe risk of falling back into the same patterns and temptations.
“Those kids disappear,” Blazing said. “They get back into criminal behavior or using. Without (programs like Freedom School), there are just not a whole lot of options for them.”
To donate or request more information, contact Mankato Central Freedom School at 507-387-2794 or campaign director Norleen Rans at 507-625-4948.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.