My Visit To the Fern Norville Children’s Shelter
By State Representative
Betty Brown
Last month I received an invitation and was privileged to attend an open house at the Fern Norville Children’s Shelter. It had been several years since I had been there. I had, however, visited with Rick Williams and his wife, LaReta, directors of the shelter, when he spoke to our Republican Women’s club about a year ago. I remember being so impressed with the story this man told about how he and his staff ran the center and what they were able to do with such limited resources. I was most impressed that he wasn’t complaining, but rather explaining about what he had to work with and what they are able to do in spite of the limitations. It seemed miraculous all that was provided the children under Rick’s direction. He only talked a short time before we were all thoroughly convinced that this big man had an even bigger heart full of love for those unfortunate children.
Those convictions were reinforced on my visit in May. Again there was no evidence of complaints, but rather an excitement and even an eagerness to share with those of us visiting what he and his few staff members had been able to accomplish in a short time while facing such challenging tasks daily. It seems that he had eliminated several staff positions in order to be able to hire a full time nurse, which happened to be their greatest need. Many of the children who come to him are sick and benefit greatly from having someone on staff full time to see to their needs. With the help of the community and volunteers plus some funds he had managed to gather Rick had, also, seen to it that a playground was created. He even involves the older children in gardening and there is evidence of his love of flowers springing up everywhere.
Many facilities are troubled with runaways and yet, according to Rick, they don’t have that problem. Most homes don’t have full time house parents to provide continuity of care for their little ones, who many times have only experienced continuity of abuse. His approach to discipline is very different from that of traditional institutions. He takes into consideration that many times his wards know nothing about normal behavior and what is expected of them even though he does set standards for behavior and rewards the successes. Another reason the children seem to thrive there could have something to do with the nourishing meals that they receive daily. Again, Rick and his wife are able to stretch that food dollar a long way. None of their groceries come from a food pantry. They believe it would be wrong to take food needed by people who have nothing when the shelter is given a food allowance based on the number of children they take in. By the way, many times children cannot be accepted because they already have a full house.
The only thing that even came close to a complaint was Rick’s admission that every once in a while he and his wife must have someone come in to relieve them for a night or two. Going so long without being allowed to sleep a night through takes its toll. You see the little ones are prone to nightmares. In fact some have those nightmares every night. Nightmares of things so horrible that they are unable to describe to those who try to comfort.
All I can say at this point is that we are so blessed to have Rick and LaReta Williams in Kaufman County working at their labor of love helping heal little minds, hearts and sometimes bodies in order to send them back out into the world knowing that there are people out there who care, people who believe they are important.
If you become depressed after hearing about all the neglected and abused children in the world, call the shelter and volunteer to help out. I am sure Rick would be happy to put you to work and you are sure to come away feeling better knowing that you have done something to make things better.