Bus traveling to Missoula for Palin speech [Teen Challenge Fundraiser]

Sarah Palin will give an address titled “Taking a stand for God, Family and Country” at the Hilton Garden Inn in Missoula Sunday, Sept. 12, at 3:30 pm. There will be a 53-seat chartered bus transporting people from the greater Billings area to the event.

Palin is helping Teen Challenge - Montana Women's Outreach raise funds to build a commercial kitchen and dining room at its 20-bed facility in Missoula. The residential shelter in Missoula offers a faith-based program for women, age 18 and up, who want freedom from substance addictions and other destructive behaviors. David Wilkerson, author of “The Cross and the Switchblade” started Teen Challenge International over 50 years ago in New York.

Two-thirds of the 1,600 tickets, at $100 each, have been sold. If all 1,600 tickets sell by the end of July, Palin is willing to book a second event the same evening.

The “Raise the Roof” campaign goal is to amass $450,000. Jan Henderson, Montana Outreach Executive Director, said the facility's kitchen is inadequate and energy inefficient. “We find ice on the walls,” she said, adding, “We are not funded by any state, federal or local tax dollars, but are a non-profit ministry kept open solely by donations.” A new kitchen would enable the organization to host its own fund-raising events.

When Henderson found out Palin was signing books at the Borders Bookstore in Billings last December, she decided to ask for the former vice-presidential candidate's help. Her husband agreed to brave the minus-27-degree temperatures and drive her from Missoula to Billings. Upon meeting Henderson, Palin accepted the invitation to speak.

A decade ago, Henderson worked on a Montana task force representing the parents of troubled youth. After working with many rehabilitation programs, she concluded that relatively fewer kids fell back into destructive behavior patterns after completing the Teen Challenge program.

She regularly referred families to the program, but the lack of a facility in Montana forced clients to travel out of state. She hounded Teen Challenge for three years to start a Montana outreach and finally the organization gave the go-ahead on the condition the program would be self-supportive - there would be no financial help from the parent organization.

“We have witnessed the lives of women changed through this organization,” said Peggy Miller of Laurel. She and her husband, Ken Miller, have been fervent supporters of Teen Challenge Montana Outreach for the past seven years since the program steered Peggy's sister toward the road to recovery from alcohol addiction.

The Millers organize fund-raisers for the organization in the eastern half of the state.

Miller said people that are unable to attend the Palin event can still help the Montana Outreach in several ways:

The tee shirts are available in black or red in men's and women's sizes and cost $15 each ($17 for 2XL and 3XL).

Teen Challenge student Kery Solheim visited with the Outlook Wednesday. Solheim is nearly finished with the 12-18-month Teen Challenge program. She spends her days studying and completing chores at the Missoula facility.

She is a testimonial to the success that is possible in young women's lives that go through Teen Challenge. “I'm clean and sober,” she said. Solheim plans to move to her hometown and find work upon completion of the program.

About a third of women who enroll finish the program. Henderson said there were recently 10 women who completed the program and went on to schools - the University of Montana and various Christian schools.

Henderson said neither Teen Challenge nor Garden of Read'n have any political agendas or opinions towards Palin or her political party. She said the event is purely a fund-raiser for the Montana Women's Outreach and no political issues or topics will be addressed during Palin's presentation.

For information or tickets call Teen Challenge at (406-543-1912), the Garden of Read'n bookstore (2621 Brooks Street, 406-728-3032), or online at gardenofreadn.com.

In the Billings area, contact Peggy Miller at 628-7857 or e-mail peggymiller59@ earthlink.net.

Amen! I've been aware of Dave Wilkerson's Teen Challenge for years. Having seen and heard the young men that came through our churches up in New Jersey when I lived there would always bring tears of joy for their stories of God's redemptive power. I believe they still have one of the lowest percentages of recedivism among the outreach programs.

They need all the help they can get and I'm glad Sarah obeyed the inner calling to have a servant's heart and do what was necessary.

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