The Lincoln’s ChalleNGe Academy
is our community program…
In most neighborhoods, we deal with some young adults who press the limits, break the law and seek mind-numbing options (all of which are illegal). We lock the worst youths up and try to frighten the rest. I suggest these corrective options alone are not enough. For a few of those off track young adults, I have seen The Lincoln’s ChalleNGe Academy Program restore motivation and put that young person back “on track” to success.
It’s tough to hear about solutions for our community problems, when other issues compete for our minds and our attention. At this moment, however, I’ll try to get you to stop and look at a solution for a percentage of our “off track” youth. I have seen The Lincoln’s ChalleNGe Academy save lives, restore personal motivation and return pride to a few young adult lives. I have seen this program turn a percentage of young adults around from “losers” to productive tax-payers.
In this age and badgering headlines and disturbing photos, we have a solution that works for a percentage of our ”off-track youth”. Stop. Look. And, if you see what I have seen, you too will support this program.
The Lincoln’s ChalleNGe program, operated by Illinois National Guard, is paid for with federal and state funding. The Challenge programs in other states are operated by each state's National Guard. It's not for all youth and its strength rests in its voluntary residential participation. It does not cure a broken spirit but it does offer a ladder to success which each cadet can climb.
There are some young adults who have been damaged by parents, by community agency staff, by family tragedy, or, who have opened the door to chemical dependence. There are psychologically defeated youth, which find no reason to restore their lives because of emotional trauma or personal loss. And, there are a few others who have stumbled onto roads that they seem unable to escape from. The ChalleNGe Program can give these young adults who are off-track, a way back…a “winner’s life” with physical fitness, mental alertness and emotional stability. The program can free the cadet from a failing past and a defeated heart. There are many young adults who could be assisted by the Challenge Program in their personal efforts to restore their lives.
I ask you to look beyond defeat…I ask you to join me on this most extraordinary road of restoration that can and does occur for many of the successful Challenge Cadets.
Need more information?
Want to know more about Illinois' Challenge Program? Call 800/851-2166 or, check out The Lincoln's ChalleNGe Academy website: . http://www.lincolnschallengeacademy.org
