To the editor:
B.E.T.A. means “B”rown County “E”nrichment for “T”eens “A”ssociation, Inc.
Since I started volunteering for BETA a few years ago, I have always wondered what “Enrichment” means and why its founders used the term instead of other fancy words like “Development” or “Education,” etc. After spending three years next to our teenagers, I have finally come to a deeper understanding and want to share my support for BETA amid its current fundraising of $25,000, especially during this pandemic era.
Brown County is such a blessed place to have a whole army of charity organizations. But sometimes I wonder how many people know we are extremely lucky to have a nonprofit organization called BETA that cares about our teens. I found its name from a donation box at the local bank and sometimes wonder, what if I didn’t?
Anything involving children is work. So BETA is a tons of work. Sometimes I feel dizzy to imagine what its founders must have gone through to start this. If you are parents, imagine you run a separate household where you feed and entertain another set of kids.
Who are those kids? BETA has a variety of teenagers ranging from We The People category to the “parents in jail” category. When I used to ask people to help BETA, some made comments like, “I don’t like teens, period,” or “It’s not my area.” Definitely, teens in the detention office are no fun. Teens smoking behind town streets or secretly vaping in the classroom are no fun either if you define teens this way. In my experiences, I have never ever met any teens that were not beautiful or fun. They look goofy and smell stinky or act out occasionally, but they are all kids, wanting to be loved and get your attention.
While drawing or sitting around tables at the BETA center, I have had such an honor to listen to their life stories, many times out of the blue. Some kids survived molestations by their relatives or parents’ friends. Some kids survived horrible physical abuse at home, even with a gun on their heads. Some had to leave home and wander homeless because they could not watch anymore their moms beaten by their boyfriends. Some girls were raped. Some kids had to suffer school bullying because of their sexual orientation. Some kids had their parents in jail while living with a dozen brothers and sisters in a crammed house. Can you imagine these stories behind their faces? Yet, I have never seen any teens not thankful for the free food, programs and care offered by BETA, which still amazes me.
The Department of Child Service (DCS) can do so much. Sometimes I wonder what more can be going behind this masked environment. Are our teens being safe? Are they getting enough protection at home? Are they feeling more desperate or lonely because of the distance among humans getting wider? So I can’t thank BETA enough for being still alive, and still going.
We worry and care about our dogs or cats astray. How about our human children, our teenagers who are on the borderline of “being risky” or maybe on the borderline between becoming “a normal citizen” and “a normal prisoner”? Is this too extreme? Let me tell you about my friend who has been in prison with a 55-year-sentence after stabbing her boyfriend 33 times. This happened after that man had molested her then-5-year-old girl. Can you imagine what burdens our seemingly punky, arrogant or disrespectful teenagers have on their shoulders, occasionally marked “losers” or “outcast” by our schools and society?
Our children are NOT the object of charity. They are our part of being. They are our future whether you have biological kids or not. If we mature into normal adulthood, we have no other choice but to care about our children regardless of whether they belong to you in blood and flesh. Why? Because they will impact my kids from my womb. They will live with my kids somewhere and somehow. Because we are all connected.
Enrichment means you encourage someone upward. If you don’t encourage them upward, they will go downhill. Sorry, there is no middle line.
What you invest today on these teens may not yield a dividend you can palpably touch or see, but you plant a seed that will be implanted in the souls that may change their life courses because they had you at some point of their lives.
We all need enrichment. Young and old. As long as we have enrichment to bring to our life, we will survive the challenges or even overcome them. Enrichment, sometimes, can be only way to solve our problems since only positives can drive away or embrace the negatives.
BETA needs your help in any form and in any way, but I believe we should start looking into this organization with more systematic, strategic, long-haul vision and perspectives to build its future and share the burdens as a community. If you have resources to share, and are considering leaving some permanent footprints, please consider a bigger scale of support up to a point where BETA does not have to worry about its sustainability and can focus its energy to directly edify our teens with more valuable programs, which may change the life courses of many.
I will be more than happy to take you out for tea or lunch with our masks on and 6 feet distance to talk more. Building relationships and sharing our presence with one another is our ultimate goal and treasure to inherit to our children anyway.
And whatever you do, our teens are thankful as they see and feel your presence through the gifts you are offering, and the positive marks on their hearts will be never erased from the earth and beyond. We Are Brown County, and thank you for your heart!
Give to: BETA, P.O. Box 1194, Nashville, IN 47448, or the BETA Endowment Fund at the Brown County Community Foundation 812-988-4882.
Sincerely,
Clara (Hyun Joo) Stanley, former BETA volunteer
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