Flanagan's island

Policy Review, Summer 1994 by Jendryka, Brian

Without solid financial planning and outside help, Boys Town probably would have remained Father Flanagan's dream. But Flanagan planned for the future, and in 1941 started the Foundation Fund, an endowment which has grown to $500 million. The fund covers a third of the organization's annual operating costs, with another third coming from state child-care agencies, and the rest from private donations.

Individuals and businesses also donate goods and services to Boys Town. Permabound has donated truckloads of books over the years, and companies like Starter have donated clothing for the children. One local orthodontist has even donated free dental work for some of the most needy children. Many celebraties have visited or performed at Boys Town, including Franklin Roosevelt, John Philip Sousa, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth, who was an orphan himself.

The community's financial strength has allowed it to work miracles with the children who come here. Robert Frost wrote that "Home is the place, where, if you have to go there, they have to take you in." Such is Boys Town. Coughlin relates the story of one child who was so violent he had to be taken away in handcuffs after threatening to kill his family-teacher. Years later, that same boy--now a man--returned to the doorstep of his family-teacher. He brought two people with him, along with a very short, but poignant message: "I know we didn't leave good, but I wanted my wife and son to meet the only person that ever made any difference to me."

Rod Dennis, a Boys Town alumnus who served in the Gulf War, is another such story. To his delight, Dennis not only received mail in Kuwait from Father Peter, but hundreds of letters of support from Boys Town kids. After the war, Dennis came back to give his Kuwaiti Liberation Medal to his "brothers and sisters" at Boys Town. He came back a hero to a music hall packed with children. On a dark blue banner were the words that each new Boys Town resident hears when they first arrive: "Welcome Home."

They are welcome indeed.