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Bishop Gustavo Garcia (center) blesses Boys Town Chicago's Casa Tepeyac as Billy Thayer, Boys Town Alumnus and Chicago Board Member; Father Bruce Wellems, Boys Town Chicago Executive Director; Rita Cardoso, Boys Town Chicago Program Director, and Paul Lopez, Boys Town Chicago Board Chairman look on. |
Boys Town Chicago
Named 'Casa Tepeyac'
Boys Town Chicago was dedicated and named Casa Tepeyac at ceremony Dec. 12, coinciding with Boys Town's 89th birthday and Our Lady of Guadalupe's Feast Day.
The Short-Term Residential Center in Chicago's Back of the Yards Neighborhood was officially named Casa Tepeyac, as it is believed that Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to the peasant Juan Diego in 1531 asking that a temple be built at Tepeyac in Mexico City, so all would have a place to seek comfort amidst turmoil.
"The home now standing here is similar in its story and its message to our children" said Father Bruce Wellems, Boys Town Chicago Executive Director. "It is a place of life! The place has been transformed from what was old and uninviting, to a place of help, healing and hope."
"The vision brought forth by Father Bruce and the Back of the Yards community to bring Boys Town to Chicago will help many of Chicago's hurting children," said Father Boes. "Casa Tepeyac will become a place were children can realize their dreams and live a safe, successful life."
At the ceremony, attended by nearly 200 people including Boys Town 1944 alumnus and Chicago Board Member Billy Thayer, and Illinois State Representative Ester Golar, the four-story building was blessed by Bishop Gustavo Garcia. Invited guests brought donations of linens, towels and small appliances for the home.
Casa Tepeyac is a short-term home for 250-300 children and families annually from Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood. Offering a safe, nurturing environment for girls and boys in crisis, the program provides a respite for the neighborhood's at-risk teens as a model of a holistic community approach to care for high-risk youth.
The Back of the Yards community is familiar with the services Boys Town provides. The primarily immigrant neighborhood, which deals with increased violence, formed the Peace and Education Coalition of the Back of the Yards to develop strategies for a safer neighborhood. The coalition established a strong relationship with Boys Town.
Since the groups founding in 1997, 51 youth from the Back of the Yards have received Boys Town's help, healing and hope at its Home Campus. Currently, Home Campus provides services to 24 of the neighborhood's children.
"The only way I know how to demonstrate the worth.of caring for any child.is to introduce a neighborhood child who has experienced Boys Town," said Father Wellems. "And to be introduced to that child means the child is alive."
Father Wellems emphasizes the success of Boys Town programs, noting that all 51 children who have received help are alive. "I don't want anything to happen to our children and I remind them whenever I see them that their lives are valuable," he said. "They are treasures of the world, like every child, with a potential to change this world to be a better place in which to live."
