Success Stories
Resilience:
Tanner's Story
Tanner has never had it easy. He was abused as a child, became addicted to drugs at a young age and was kicked out of his house. Boys Town was a rough adjustment but when one of his mentors believed in him, he began to believe in himself.
Watch Tanner's Story
Tanner: She'd grab something, sometimes it was a flyswatter, or sometimes it was a hanger or all the way up to a stripped wire and she just hit us in the back of our calves or our thighs.
I had several suicide attempts and I used drugs to cope. Was addicted to meth and then when my dad found out, he kicked me out of the house. I was homeless for about three months, slept under the Veterans' Memorial Bridge. Living like a dog, I guess. I guess I just didn't care.
I came here to Boys Town, I think I'd been here a month and half and I started fighting the police and destroyed a bunch of property. But, I'd been doing really well here so, my old consultant, he fought for me to stay on campus because I guess he saw this light in me or something, and said that I can do great in the world if I have this opportunity.
The fact that he still saw the light in me after I did what horrible thing I did, like it's just...I don't know, it was amazing. It was like, okay, all right, so he's helping me out here so I can't let him down.
Now, I'm motivated. I want to do something with my life. I don't know, I've been like reborn. I'm an entirely different person. I'm clean, I'm not doing any drugs. I work out now.
If I hadn't come to Boys Town I would probably be in jail or dead. Boys Town has really saved my life.
