| Our
History
Advent's
roots go back to the 1930's, during the Great
Depression, when
Aunty May and Uncle Mack McLean decided to open
a shelter for boys from broken and poverty-stricken
homes. The couple ran the home much like a country
orphanage, with the help of Ina Matheson, the
wash lady. At that time, they were able to take
up to 20 boys, ages 6-18. This was the original
Summit Ranch, at the summit of the Santa Cruz
Mountains.
In 1967, Summit Ranch was given
to the San Jose Rescue Mission and renamed the
Arbutus Youth Association. In the 1970's, the
organization expanded to include a home on Hamilton
Avenue in San Jose for adolescent boys ages 13-17,
and a home for girls ages 13-18 on Third Street
in San Jose.
In 1972, Mark Miller began his
ministry as a boy's counselor at the Arbutus Home.
In 1974, after serving as a resident counselor,
senior counselor, and caseworker, he became the
Program Director. In 1977, he became the Executive
Director and he still holds that position to this
day.
In the 1980's, San Jose Rescue
Mission changed its name to CityTeam Ministries,
and Arbutus Youth Association became a department
of CityTeam. At that time, Arbutus had grown to
include five homes for boys and girls who were
wards of the court.
In 1980, foster families were
first licensed through Arbutus. The program started
out with only three families, with Aunty May receiving
the first foster child from Santa Clara County.
The first director of our Foster Families Program
was Donelyn Miller (no relation to Mark Miller),
who is currently a clinical supervisor at Advent.
Donelyn stared working with the girls' group home
in 1973 before assuming her position in the foster
care department. Dale McGowan is the current Foster
Families Director at Advent. He began his career
as a resident counselor in 1973 at Arbutus.
In 1986, Arbutus separated from
CityTeam Ministries and became Advent Group Ministries,
an entirely separate non-profit agency. In 1990,
Advent launched a major fundraising campaign,
purchasing the five Arbutus homes from CityTeam.
In 1987, the Residential Recovery
Program Director, Ann MacLaren, who began her
career at Arbutus in 1977, began shifting Advent's
focus to the exclusive treatment of drug and alcohol
addicted youth. Ann is now Advent's current Director
of Program Development. Stacy Hall is our current
Residential Recovery Program Director.
In 1986, our Counseling Center
was opened with the help of the Southern Baptist
Association, who collaborated with Advent to provide
administrative and financial support for the new
program. At that time, our goal was to provide
counseling for 25 clients. Today, our clinical
staff sees 100-150 people per week, providing
low-cost counseling services to our recovery program
clients, foster families and other individuals
and families in the community. Advent's Clinical
Director, Karen Shomura, oversees both the Counseling
Center and our Step Up! Outpatient Program. Karen
started her career at Arbutus in 1976.
In 2006, the Counseling Center
formally opened the Step Up! Outpatient Program,
providing intensive outpatient drug and alcohol
treatment for adolescents in our community. We
currently operate two sites, one in San Jose,
and one in Morgan Hill.
From the 1930's until today,
we have seen God's hand guide this agency - growing
us to the point where we currently provide a residential
drug and alcohol program for adolescents, a community-based
outpatient drug and alcohol program for adolescents,
a foster home program for abused and neglected
youth and children, and a low-cost counseling
center.
Around 1987, Advent was able
to purchase the last of our current six group
recovery homes. Currently all six of our homes
serve drug and alcohol-addicted teens from 12-18
years of age. These youth are referred to our
program by Social Services and the Juvenile Courts.
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