Demetree Match Makes Positive Change in Teen’s Life

Akeem was a runaway.

Several times he left the home he shared with his mother, three siblings and stepfather because of disagreements, only to be picked up and brought into the Intervention and Assessment Center. It was here in 2007 that Boys Town Central Florida first met Akeem and his aggression. Three more times in 2008 Akeem would stay at Boys Town. 

After numerous attempts to work with Akeem in his home, it was decided that he could only get the intensive care he needed in the Treatment Family Homes on Boys Town Central Florida’s campus. But the residential program was more than Akeem’s family could afford. 

Boys Town Central Florida Board Member Mary Demetree stepped in to help. She had just completed a $200,000 match fundraising campaign to donate $400,000 to the nonprofit. Why not use the money for privately placed kids who needed the care the Treatment Family Home Program provide? Akeem and two other youth moved in shortly thereafter.

While at Boys Town, Akeem and his Family-Teachers worked together to channel his aggression into football and he learned skills to resolve conflict rather than always running away. Because Akeem had spent so much time running, he had fallen behind in school. His Family-Teachers took Akeem to school every day and then made sure he finished his homework with the other boys in his home.

Akeem spent two and a half years at Boys Town but because of the progress he made in the program, he was reunified with his mother and moved home in August 2011. He is going to school, still working to catch up, and his mom has noticed a new drive in him to do well.

Boys Town provides life-changing programs in Florida to more than 30,000 children and families each year. Because of donors and supporters like Mary Demetree, more kids like Akeem are getting a second chance. Make a donation today to give a child in need a chance to be successful.