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Holston United Methodist Home for Children
Holston United Methodist Home for Children, with headquarters and main campus in Greeneville, offers a wide variety of children and family services, including residential care and group care.
Most of these children attend newly renamed River Academy, the former Beacon School, on campus. There, K-12 students receive individual instruction to help make up deficiencies in their academic progress.
Holston Home’s goals are to return children to their family after completion of therapeutic services, placement in a loving foster home, or finding forever families through adoption when appropriate.
Foster parents are therapeutically trained by professionals at Holston Home to parent children who have experienced trauma in their lives.
Holston Home operates under the following licenses in Tennessee and Virginia: Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (Child-Placing and Child-Caring Agency), Tennessee Department of Human Services (Child Day Care), Tennessee Department of Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities (Mental Health Outpatient Services, MR Residential Rehabilitation), Tennessee Department of Education (Private School; General and Special Education), Virginia Department of Social Services (Child-Placing Agency) and Philippines Inter-Country Adoption Board (Adoptions).
It holds accreditations from: National Council on Accreditation of Services for Children & Families (COA), Hague Accredited (COA), and United Methodist Health & Welfare Ministries (FaithBased).
TWO DAY-CARE CENTERS
Holston Home operates two day-care centers in Greeneville — the Children’s Center, 119 Fairgrounds Circle, and Small Miracles at 2001 West Main Street. Tuition assistance is offered via funds from the United Way. Both child care centers have been awarded Tennessee’s three-star ranking, which is the highest possible rating, and are inspected regularly to ensure that children are learning and playing in a safe and wholesome environment.
SUN PHOTO BY CICELY BABB/THE GREENEVILLE SUN Students at Holston Home line the balcony at The Rock, the United Methodist children’s home’s Christian Life Center, as the helicopter circles the building before landing for the surprise visit from Santa.
PAL PROGRAM
Teens who are approaching the age of 18 may move into Preparation for Adult Living at the Brumit Center apartments where they are taught skills necessary to help them one day live on their own.
They must pay rent, retain a savings account, keep their apartments clean, do their own cooking, attend school regularly and hold at least a part-time job.
They are taught how to manage their finances, apply for a job and be a good neighbor. They also learn the value of community service.
At the end of their experience in the PAL program, the rent they paid is returned to them to be used as “seed” money to help them pay their own way as newly on-their-own adults.
STUDENT ACTIVITES
Students at Holston Home are provided counseling and other support services and have recreational facilities available to them, including an equestrian program, a ropes course, a climbing wall, racquetball court, a gymnasium and an outdoor, covered basketball court. They participate in regular canoeing, hiking and camping and Young Life activities.
A garden and a small orchard teach them agricultural skills.
There are three Christian Life staff that provide regular and ongoing Christian education, activities and counseling to our youth.
The Rock is the name of Holston Home’s Christian Life Center (1014 Wesley Avenue) which holds worship services on Sundays at 10 a.m. for youth as well as the community.
BACKGROUND
In 1895, Mrs. Elizabeth Wiley, widow
