Over the last few years, our house parents at Sweetwater (Kevin and Frankie Mangus) have been taking good care of their Ford van and getting lots of good use of it. Yet even with the best of care, the best of things wear out.

Westview’s administrative team decided that it was time to replace Sweetwater’s van with one that would need few repairs, get better gas mileage and have a lower tire expense. So, they made an appeal to many of the congregations and individual donors that care for our boys.

These friends came through for our boys! Thanks to the generosity of these friends and churches, enough money was raised. A new Chevrolet van was ordered and now it is here!

Every mile of every day we are grateful to the generosity of those who made this great tool possible.

Westview needs to replace two more vans over the next year; if you would like to be a part of helping with this, please contact John Moore with Westview at (580) 688-9281.

The winners showing their jackets

The calf program at Westview Boys’ Home is highly successful. Over the last three years, this program has won four championship jackets and has placed two young men and their calves in the premium sale at the Oklahoma Youth Expo, a high honor indeed. Yet this program has a value well beyond these awards; it changes the habits and lives of the young men who are a part of it.

The Westview team is very proud that our young men did so well at the Harmon County Livestock show this year. Bobby Elliot brought the Grand Champion steer into the arena, and Steven Storey showed the Reserve Grand Champion Steer. Chris Elliot’s reserve breed heifer placed second in her class. DJ McMillian showed the Grand Champion Heifer. The heifers are particularly important to Westview because they will go back into our herd and continue to improve the quality of our already outstanding herd.

What makes these wins even sweeter is the fact that the Harmon County arena is a very competitive place. Area farmers and ranchers take the livestock projects of their sons and daughters very seriously. The team at Westview wants our young men to do well, too, yet for us it is about so much more than ribbons, jackets, or trophies. For us, this work is about our boys’ ability to develop responsibility, confidence, and self esteem.

Five and a half decades of loving work with amazing results.

So many sad stories have found their turning point here. So many boys have left behind their despair to take up lives full of hope. So many hearts full of grief have learned to overflow with joy instead.

If you are not already a part of it, we invite you into that story. Thousands of generous souls are already characters in the story of this Home; you can join in, too. Think about our boys. Pray for them. If at all possible, set aside some of the many good things that you have in life for the care of these good boys.

You will be welcome in this great story.

If you have already been a part of this work by supporting it, you are our heroes. Yes, the young men at Westview are heroes because of the obstacles in their life that they overcome in order to make their way forward. It’s also true that the Westview team are heroes because they lay it all on the line for these needy boys.

Yet your roles as heroes in this story are critical. You are the ones who, working alongside God, make the rest of the story possible. Without your sacrificial giving to the Home, the Westview team would not be on the ranch, doing the challenging work they do so well. Without your diligent attention to the needs of our boys, there would simply be no boys here, no one moving past their conflicts toward their well-earned victories.

You have chosen not to stand on the sidelines, but to get into the fray with our boys and with us. Thank you for having the strength of character to live out this saga with us. We know that parts of the story are hard, but that’s true of the best of stories. There have been some wonderful victories in the years past, and there are more to come.

We thank God for you and your part in our story.

As a young man growing up at Westview, Tony learned much of what he knows from his mentor, Burl Butler (still with the Home after 44 years). Since then Tony has learned quite a few tricks for working with pigs on his own.

Tony has over a decade of experience as a house parent; many of those years were spent working at Westview. He has also finished a college degree at Western Oklahoma State College. His many friends are proud of his accomplishments.

Tony is excited to be back at Westview and to be the Transitional Living Program mentor at Molloy House. In that role, he prepares young men for their launch into the real world, building their skills and making certain that they have had successful experiences in a number of significant life events.

Tony has also been glad to work with Terry Owens and the house parents at Saunders (Monica and Ryan Maris) and the house parents at Overstreet (Josh and Julia Birney) to keep the pig program moving forward. All of these adults have teamed up to help our boys get the job done.

Welcome back home, Tony.

Dylan and his pig

Marcus – class 3 Hampshire, 5th place
Marcus – class 4 Hampshire, 7th place
Harland – class 2 Hampshire, 4th place
Harland – class 3 OPB, 2nd place
Kezley – class 5 Hampshire, 2nd place
Kezley – class 2 OPB, 3rd place
Ethan – class 2 OPB, 2nd place
Joseph – class 1 Duroc, 2nd place
Joseph – class 1 OPB, 2nd place
Joseph – class 5 Cross, 4th place

A heart-felt “thank you” goes to all of the pig program sponsors who made this success possible for these young men. Your gifts made possible the purchase of our animals, their feed, and the vet bills that go with having these animals.
If you would like to join our winning team of pig program sponsors, please call the Westview Boys’ Home offices and talk to Terry Owens (our campus manager) or Dennise Gonzalez (our donor relations expert). They will be happy to help you find ways to support our boys!

In the spring of the year, ten months before the calves will show in Harmon County, the boys first meet their calves. Our young men are responsible for each animal’s daily care; they are also responsible for training the animal to respond properly to the halter and the show stick. What sometimes starts as a rodeo eventually becomes a quiet, orderly, and regular process.

Each time of the year has its own challenges. In the heat of the summer, keeping the animals in the cool house means that their hair will grow longer and better for show, but it also means that there are the regular rituals of tying up and tying down. As the winter approaches, there is the need to go out several times a day to break the ice in the watering troughs. Even in the cold, calves need to drink, especially after feeding.

In February through March come the shows that make such a difference for our young men. This is the time of year that their months of hard, disciplined work become obvious to everyone else.

We’re proud of our young men, of the strong men who lead the program, and of the caring donors who make this life-changing work possible.

DJ's weightlifting medal

During the first week of February, three young men from Westview placed in a weightlifting match at Anadarko. Here is how they placed:

DJ McMillian placed 3rd in the 220 weight class for High School.

Steven Storey placed 7th in the 242 weight class for High School.

Zach Paul placed 4th in the Jr. High meet 140 weight class.

We’re proud of these young men! They are growing strong physically, and in so many other positive ways as well.

The auction includes: collectibles, Harry Potter memorabilia, vacations, art work, jewelry, antiques, a Michael Jordan basketball camp, tickets to see the Texas Rangers and many other interesting and, in some cases, unusual items. One interesting group of items in the auction are several pairs of Harley Davidson riding boots.

From the comfort of your home or office, you can donate items for the auction or bid on items in the auction. If you purchase something in the auction, you get something you want and the monies that are raised go directly into the care of our boys.

Remember: every dollar spent over the estimated value of your purchase counts as a donation, and we will send a receipt by mail for that.

To visit our on-line auction and view the 70 plus items, please go to:

www.biddingforgood.com/westviewboyshome.

Many items are already posted on line, but others will be added between now and the end of the auction.

For some of the young men at Westview who choose a life of faith, a recent trip to be at Winterfest has helped them learn the value of spiritual disciplines in the Christian life. Along with nearly 5,000 other young people, they studied the basic practice of 12 different spiritual disciplines. Prayer, Bible study,  meditation, and silence are a few of those practices. Those disciplines help young Christians learn to draw closer to God.

Winterfest is an annual event happening every January in Arlington, Texas. Young people from all over the western United States attend every year.

Anthony bringing home the presents

Beginning in November, friends from a corporation in Oklahoma City, friends from Altus Airforce Base, and members of several congregations of the Churches of Christ throughout Oklahoma and Texas began to work on the boys’ Christmas wish lists. They found clothing, shoes, and games that were exactly what our young men hoped for. Some of them found gifts that were about more than our boys’ wishes, they were about their dreams.

In December, Burl Butler and Bobby Estoll took our grocery truck around to pick those presents up. Dennise Gonzalez logged them all in to make certain that we got thank you notes to the correct donors.

For all of those special and caring souls who were so generous to our young men, we say “Thanks!” Our boys have already written thank you notes, but Team Westview wanted you to know of our gratitude as well.