Tough love

I wnet to ailanthus from summer 2000 to winter 2002, ailanthus was the best thing to ever happen to me, i meet soo many great friends i still keep in contact with today, the staff was great aswell, l ived them, i got so many great oppurtunites after ailanthus with all the skills i learned and i came thank them enough for that!!!
But when it came to the lynda part, it was bad, she ruined alot of peoples lives.
i lived in " the rez" for 6 months, i did not come from a bad home , niether was my single mother a drug or alcohol abuiser, i came from a great home. i went to the rez for moretime to do circus arts and schooling, but when i was there she lied about alot, making my mother hurt bad ,even to this day when i talk about ailanthus , she cries. they told my mother she was a bad parent and i was a mess-up.

ailanthus has done great stuff but as well as bad, there are kids that went to alanthus that i see todat that are worse of then went they started.

I was part of the Ailanthus program for 2 years. When I first heard about Ailanthus through one of my teachers at my high school, I was excited. Here was a program that could teach us more than our normal high school, keep us fit, and give us some sort of ambition. From reading this article and hearing Linda's opinion on how the program "failed" really saddens me. First of all, not all of us who joined the Ailanthus program came from welfare homes, or drug/alcohol addicted families. My family didn't do drugs, and they supported me with every decision I made, always trying to make sure I did the right thing. They also would help me with my school work to the best of their ability as much as they could. My mom never even missed a single play or basketball game I ever had. And one note that I wanted to comment on. In the article you quoted Linda on saying that she interviewed everyone personally. That's not true. I didn't even meet Lynda Bentall until about 2 months after I had joined the program and I had no idea who she even was for the first month and a half in the summer. But from criticising her opinions and her quotes I do have to say that my time at Ailanthus was the best I ever had. Even though I was told that I would never amount to anything (yes that was written in my very last report card from Lynda herself.) I think I've done just great. I graduated from high school, even gone to SFU, work full time, go to school full time. So before everybody thinks that the program "failed" maybe you should talk to the students who used to go. Me and one of my closest friends (who went to the program with me) talk about all our great memories about Ailanthus and the other day she asked me if I would go back and do it again. I said I would do it in a heart beat....

Sincerely yours, Samantha LeDrew

My name is Anthony Matthews, and I'm now 22. I was enrolled at the Ailanthus program in East Vancouver for over a year, in both the summer and winter programs in 2002. This program, despite it's sometimes harsh and penalizing way of doing things, did none the less change my life, I was an immature, coke and meth driven 16 year old in high school in Surrey, and this chance came across to me through a school counsellor, and, at first I felt like giving up, it was too hard, but I began to excel, but, unfortunately, before physically falling back into the vicious cycle that I was in before Ailanthus, I was already slipping back into the mindset of being hopeless, stranded and stupid. Ailanthus changed my life, and now, even though I am residing in Edmonton, Alberta, I can see the same thought-provoking and confidence-building things that the program constantly taught us, and I would like to be able to personally thank Lynda and Bob Bentall for this program. Even though it is now 6 years later, and a province away, I am venturing through my high school upgrading, working a full-time job, and eventually I will be attending Grant MacEwan College to pursue my dreams of being a Social Worker. The one thing that I did detest about that program was the fact that we were all isolated and held back from any reasonable contact with our families, which, from my perspective, destroyed my ability to communicate with my mother afterwards, on top of the drugs and street life. Overall, this program was controversial, yes, but it also had a conscience and a soul, and although the program overall was misguided and lacked a truly innovative and successful vision, it still changed lives, and some of us kids walked away with skills that would help out right away in life, or in my case, would be implemented once we finally get our lives on track. Ailanthus was a troubled program because the Bentalls and the staff, as well as us participants, did not truly share in the full vision of the program, nor did the administration create a proper, extensive code of conduct, ethics, and a business vision, it seemed, but the Bentalls had the best intentions in mind, and for that I am grateful.

One aspect of my story that I'm afraid did not survive my many rewrites and edits was the weight that could have been brought to the commitment Lynda and Bob Bentall made to Ailanthus and other child-education programs in Africa and North America.

Whatever errors Shredder notes in his/her comments, certainly no one can fault the Bentalls for the time and energy they spent with their Ailanthus kids. Quite aside from the money, Lynda in particular devoted 14 years of her life to running the Centre as its hands-on administrator and surrogate Mom. I have spent time with Lynda over the years and Ailanthus was always at the centre of her interests and conversation.

I agree with Ms Wallbank. In many ways, the Ailanthus program was 'amazing.'

Nor was there space to include the Bentalls' involvement in such highly successful programs like Posse, the New York City-based educational program that finances and supports disadvantaged students entering university; or Prep-For-Prep which prepares disadvantaged high school children to enter college.

The Bentalls have also discovered and supported independently-run and successful programs in Kenya, and are now personally exploring opportunities to educate deserving children in South Africa.

I worked for approx 2 years on and off at Ailanthus and after reading this article I was re-affirmed what I already knew about the Bentalls. They just seem to miss the point of why what they are attempting to do does not ever work.

In this writer's opinion the fundamental downfall of her programs are not impossible to fix but Lynda and Bob can't see the forest for the tree's.

Their basic tenants in running these programs is for all involved to understand that the kids are the only focus and they are to be motivated and cultivated without any concern for anyone else involved.

In other words the people who work for her are to be robots and not to bring any of their life experiences, trials, tribulations or success' into the picture. I can recall being instructed to leave my personal life at home, all our focus was to be for the kids and our lives were inconsequential when at work.
Combine that with her withholding family participation and inclusion and you have a recipe for disaster!

What these kids really needed was to have been able, if warranted, to reconnect with their families, or caregivers, and to connect with the adults who are working with them alongside discipline and encouragement.

She removed kids from bad situations but she also isolated them from the real world. Arts and academics should be part of the picture but the social and psychological needs cannot be left behind. With these programs running privately, with no checks and balances from objective, professional influence, you will run yourself into the ground and the people involved, the kids and staff alike walk away with a very bad taste in our mouths!