"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - Community Opens Safe House for Kids

(Photo by Daune Moore) "Barbara Flynn, a lifelong Cherry Tree resident, stands with Shyla Burgess and Haley Duncan, both from Cherry Tree, on the back deck of the safe house, which Flynn
helped to open."

CHERRRY TREE COMMUNITY, Oklahoma – For her entire life, Barbara Flynn has lived in the small rural community of Cherry Tree, a community that many people associate with a high crime rate.

So Flynn and other concerned residents took it upon themselves to rid the community of that characteristic and have worked together to open a safe house in an empty community home for area youth.

Cherry Tree sits a few miles south of Stilwell in Adair County and has a high population of Cherokee citizens, but Flynn said the area is mostly known for gangs, high dropout rates and a wide range of trouble among the area youth.

The $17,330 in funds for the safe house came from a grant by the Cherokee Nation’s Compassion Capital Fund Demonstration Program. Rick Gassaway, who runs the CCFDP, said the money will provide for training, assistance to work with youth, legal training such as gang intervention, referral service for people who have drug and alcohol problems as well as for youth, computer equipment and technology access and other assistance to help the safe house get off the ground.

“We are giving them the tool than actually providing services,” he said,” giving them the tools they need in order to succeed.”

Flynn and CN employee Radena Rutherford worked together to “We thought, ‘Something needs to be done,’” Rutherford said. “There are no after-school programs, and the crime is so overwhelming in that area. The kids need a positive place to go where they see positive things being done.”

Community residents are also working with the CN Marshal Service to keep the area safe, and CNMS Lt. Franky Dreadfulwater plans on teaching gang and drug awareness classes to community youth once the safe house is fully operational.

“We’re trying to do safe neighborhoods in all our counties as much as we can in some of our high risk areas and that’s what we’re trying to do with the safe house,” Dreadfulwater said.

The CNMS is also is trying to make the neighbors and community more aware of the crime, and the marshals are also conducting a safe neighborhoods program in the 14-county jurisdiction, he said.

In addition to drug and gang awareness, the safe house will host several summer and after-school activities for children whose parents work late.

With the grant money, Flynn said a library will be put into the house, as well as be a site for General Education Degree classes for adults and teenagers who have dropped out of high school.

“The drop-out rate there is bad,” said Rutherford. “And not just from high school, but kids just stop at eighth grade – they just don’t go on.”

Besides activities, the safe house will provide tutoring to children and other enrichment opportunities.

“The ultimate goal is to provide a safe place for these kids,” Flynn said. “We want the safe house to serve as an activity center for our youth year-round by hosting parties, summer youth program, language skills and community improvement projects.”

Both Flynn and Rutherford have close ties to Cherry Tree, and they are trying their hardest to turn their community around.

“I just got in it because I want to do something positive; I want to make a positive impact on a troubled community,” Rutherford said. “I’m just trying to make Cherry Tree a safer place.”