Goodland Boys Home

So as I mentioned before, I went to Goodland Boys Home in Hugo, OK last week. My friend, who is more like a little brother, Isaac, is a Youth Minister at Eastside Presbyterian Church in Durant, OK and I went as a sponsor with his youth group, along with his mom and sister.

I first started going to Goodland when I was a freshman in high school with my own youth group. Isaac and his sister Sarah were a part of that as well and so was their mom, as our sponsor. Sarah and I graduated together and we have been friends since her family moved here back in oh 6th grade or so. But neither of us had been back to Goodland since about 1998, so it was definitely a blast from the past for us and a good time was had by all!

***A little bit of history ***

Goodland was founded in 1848 by the Choctaw Indian Tribe. It was founded during the Trail of Tears-which if you don't know about, you need to go back to history class-as a small community in which the children could become educated in a school setting while also learning about the Christian faith.

It houses boys from all over the country who either have been in and out of foster care, orphans, or boys who get into trouble and are sent there as boarding students. All the boys particpate in Boy Scouts and are members of 4-H. Goodland has many animals for these boys to be responsible for which include llamas, horses, rabbits, sheep and more.

Some of the original buildings remain such as the chapel and the gym, as well as other older buildings that were built in the early 1900's. Lots of history there.

They have a private school for the boys, but also a small public Christian school for kids in the area.
Goodland used to be federally funded, until one day long ago the government said that the teachings of Christianity must go. Refusing to abandon the Christain faith as an integral part of the education, Goodland abandoned federal funding instead. It is now funded by private donors, churches, and companies.


Goodland sits on approx. 390 acres and in the process of expanding the campus to include sports such as football, baseball, and track, and new larger buildings to educate a much larger student body, which will include both boys and girls.

The point of these mission trips is to lend a helping hand. When there, we help in many ways which could include painting a building-inside or out-, cleaning duties, landscaping duties, etc. We also interact with the boys and have a great time getting to know them.

David is the director of Goodland and has been since 1988. He built Goodland's finaces basically from the ground up. He stepped in when Goodland was facing a huge debt. With David's help, he has wiped out any debts and now Goodland sits on a little over a million dollars in funds, thanks to the generous donations. Now, a million dollars may sound like a lot of money to you and me, but to a facility that house children, pays salaries to the staff, keeps up 390 acres, animals, and all other expenses, it doesn't last too long.

Ok, now that you know a little bit about Goodland [probably more than you ever wanted to know!], I'll let ya in on our fun trip there this past week.

We have become very good friends with David over the last 15 years and we always enjoy seeing him and spending time with him and his family. David is such a character and always makes for an interesting and fun time! When the lights are out, and the children are sleeping, we like to sneak out into the night! Of course, there are other adults watching over the children while we wonder off on our excursions. :)

You never know what we might end up doing. We usually make late night trips to the local Wal-Mart and just goof off. Play some toilet paper football in the aisle, try on masks and take pictures with people, or even have a scavenger hunt inside Wal-Mart! There was this kid named Mitch who grew up at Goodland and we all became great friends with us. Well he had this watch that could turn on and off the TV's in the electronics department. No lie! So it was always great pretending to be browsing around the electronics department while the Wal-Mart employees were trying to figure out what was going on with all their TV's! They eventually found out what was going on, and he was banned from ever coming back. Whoops! But of course, that never stopped him or us. lol

There is also an old old old Indian cemetary directly across the county road from Goodland which is owned by Goodland. We like to go out there late at night and get a good scare!

Or we like to make trips into Paris, Texas-about a 20 minute drive south- and hang out there.

David, Sarah, and I like to go out during the day with one of his many metal detectors and search for old hidden treasures buried in the ground. Just the other day we found an old toy that has to be from the early 1900's! Sarah kept it and she's checking into it. Of course, it needs a little cleaning and it's dented a tad, but she's working on fixing that. Sarah loves the old history and that sort of thing so much. I go along for the ride and yeah, it's interesting, but she LOVES it. David actually gave her a metal detector this last trip, so her and I are looking forward to getting out and about here in this area and using it! We're nerds. haha

Ahhh, the good times are never ending!

I guess I didn't really go into much detail about this exact trip, but you get the idea. It's always great fun with great people.

The kids that I went with, I had never met. There were only 7 of them that made this trip, but let me tell you something-they were the best group of kids ever! Everyone gets along so well, better than most families. They are just awesome, inspirational, and fun!

So I leave for Texas today (Tuesday) and I should be back on Monday. Pretty sure I won't be doing any blogging this week. Not sure if I will have a computer while on the road, but I'll definitely write about it once I get back! I'm going to see alot of people and I'm getting anxious!!

Hope you all have a great week! Be safe!

XOXO~T

www.goodland.org