Grand Opening of White’s Greenhouse & Garden Center

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WABASH, Ind. – White’s Residential & Family Services announces the grand opening of its new Greenhouse & Garden Center on April 25. The new agribusiness, which will be open to the public, will serve not only as a source of flowers and potted plants for the community but also as an expansion of the vocational and educational programming offered to students on White’s campus.

“We are excited about this opportunity to provide the community with quality floral and garden products. Our inventory will span over 5,000 plants and around 45 varieties of flowers and bedding plants including herbs and vegetable starts,” said Tim Main, operations manager for White’s Greenhouse & Garden Center.

The center will be located on White’s main campus. Hours of operation will be Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

White’s Residential & Family Services is thankful for all the individuals and organizations who have supported the Growing Teens for Life Program and the Greenhouse & Garden Center.

“For many years, White’s has had a lot of visitors talk about how beautiful the flowers and grounds are when they visit our campus,” said Dee Gibson, CEO of White’s. “Through strategic planning with the Wabash community, we realized the need for the Greenhouse & Garden Center. Partner that need with our vision to help kids and our strong heritage in agricultural, and this just seems like a natural fit.”

For more information on the plants and products that will be available for purchase, visit www.whiteskids.org. For further questions about the center, please contact Deb Main at 260-563-1158.

We look forward to seeing you this spring!

 

Compass Rose Academy accepted as NATSAP Associate Program Member

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School earns recognition from the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs

Wabash, Ind. — Compass Rose Academy is the newest member of the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP), a distinguished recognition that showcases the school’s dedication and professionalism in serving struggling young people and their families.

NATSAP recognizes schools and programs that serve children, teens and families in crisis while maintaining outstanding levels of professionalism. All NATSAP schools must be licensed by a state agency that oversees the program’s therapeutic and behavioral health care services, offer therapeutic services with oversight from a qualified clinician, and aspire to the NATSAP Ethical Principles and Principles of Good Practice.

As a member organization, Compass Rose will be able to participate in NATSAP’s national and regional conferences, learning programs and networks. In addition, it will receive continuing education opportunities for staff, government representation and funding and scholarship opportunities.

“We are excited to join such an outstanding organization that successfully supports and champions great programs throughout the country who serve very deserving teens and their families at the highest clinical and therapeutic level,” said Dee Gibson, CEO of White’s Residential & Family Services and Compass Rose Academy.

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About Compass Rose Academy
Compass Rose Academy is a privately funded affiliate of White’s Residential & Family Services, one of Indiana’s largest and oldest nonprofit social services agency offering residential, emergency shelter care, foster care, independent living, adoption support and home-based services. Designed to expand upon White’s overall mission to preserve the well-being of youth and families through prevention services and an on-site residential treatment center for troubled teens, Compass Rose is committed to enriching the lives of teens and their families through emotional healing, personal development and spiritual growth. For more information about Compass Rose, please visit www.CompassRoseAcademy.org.

Weekly Devotion: Distractions

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“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
 
— Luke 10:38-42
 
Today is a big deal. 
 
Today, on a day home with my children, I showered AND did my hair.  To add to it, I do not have on yoga pants and a pajama top.  I am wearing (clean) jeans and an actual daytime top. 
 
It’s revolutionary. 
 
Here’s the thing:  every day that I am home with my children, I commit to do all of these things.  But as parents with young children know, things do not always go as planned.
 
My typical day at home goes something like this:
 
I wake up to a child jumping on my chest.  Hard.  That child is relaying to me that unless he goes downstairs to get apple juice right now, he will spontaneously combust.
 
I go downstairs to get said apple juice and avert World Crisis.
 
On my way downstairs, our daughter wakes up.  She must nurse right now or she too will spontaneously combust.  So I go into her room to nurse and again avoid a child bursting into flames.
 
But our son is now standing in his sister’s room, screaming for juice.  I pick both kids up, carry them downstairs and get juice.
 
Apple juice in hand, I then start breakfast.  Before the eggs are cracked, however, someone has dropped something/smeared something/hit someone/all of the above. 
 
I run toward the yells and avert crisis #3 for the morning.
 
You get the picture.
 
By the time all the distractions are finished for the day, it’s bedtime.
 
So, for me to be able to wake up, shower, do my hair and put ‘normal people’ clothes on today is a very, very big deal. 
 
The Lord has been teaching me about distractions, however.
 
Each morning for the past few years, I would present my day to God.  I prayed that God would allow me to live my life without all the little distractions taking up so much of my time.  Last week, however, I believe God gave me the truth:
 
These distractions ARE my life. 
 
Instead of becoming frustrated because God did not allow me to live out the agenda I have for the day, I will give in to the plan He has for my day.  As I clean a wound, unwrap string cheese and change the fourteenth diaper, I will know that there is no holier calling than this life.
 
There is something so sacred in giving into the ‘distractions.’  When I stop resisting the distractions and release ‘my plan’ to God, I realize the path I’m walking is exactly the path He chose for me. 

 

Our New Website

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Spring is right around the corner — as hard as that may be to believe right now — and with spring, it seems, always comes change. Here at White’s we’ve had some big changes — right here on our website! We were long overdue for an update and spring seemed like just the right time to say “out with the old and in with the new.”

But as we launch our new website and have a proverbial “out with the old,” we also want to keep in mind the history that is the foundation on which we’ve built ourselves. In the mid-1800s Quaker businessman and entrepreneur, Josiah White drafted and funded through his will a plan to help “the most deserted of children.” This bequest has grown and evolved since that day to become what is now White’s Residential & Family Services — Indiana’s largest nonprofit social services agency serving families and children. From residential care, to foster care, to home-based services, adoption and Compass Rose Academy, White’s offers a continuum of care that can meet the needs of troubled children, teens and families statewide — all because of one man’s vision and desire to help “the most deserted of children.”

Please feel free to click around our new website! Learn more about our history as well as all the wonderful programs and services we have to offer. And keep in mind: spring is — eventually — coming!