TEEN CHALLENGE HALFWAY TO CAMPAIGN GOAL

Four months after kicking off its first local capital funds campaign, Mid-America Teen Challenge has received pledges and donations totally over half the $500,750 goal.

Executive Director Jack Smart said reaching the goal would mean the expansion of a dormitory, building two staff duplexes, renovating existing residences and enlarging and updating the business and program offices.

The local program at the 25-year-old facility on Oriole Road (County Road 621) about 6 miles north of Cape Girardeau currently hosts about 100 men who have been addicted to drugs or alcohol. Throughout the county, Teen Challenge programs are serving 2,500 men and women. Locally, Teen Challenge could house 11 more men if its financial goal is met.

Many area residents have heard Teen Challenge's choirs performing in area churches, have tasted strawberries and blueberries grown on the farm or have had their lawns mowed and raked by students participating in the program. These accomplishments contrast with the drug-addicted lives the men left behind to become students in the 14-month Christian program.

Not only does Teen Challenge have a high success rate compared to private and public drug treatment institutions, but many of the students who graduate from the highly successful program become successful, high-profile members of the community.

Nick Accardo, a native of New Orleans, gave up drugs and went into Teen Challenge when he was 27. Accardo, now 33, married and settled in the town after graduating from the program in 1990. He has operated Nicky's Cafe at the St. Louis Iron Mountain Railroad depot for over a year.

"I was in college on a golf scholarship," Accardo said, "Then I got into drugs."

Accardo said he had to leave college because of his addiction and bounced from waiter job to cook job until he tried to commit suicide in 1989.

"That's when I decided to give my life to God," he said, "and I went into the Teen Challenge program."

Accardo worked in the Teen Challenge kitchen after his graduation but wanted to own a restaurant. "I want to give something back financially because it didn't cost me to go through the program," he said.

The cost is over $25 a day per student but that amount is paid by private donations. Other private programs cost 10 to 40 times that amount and have lower success rates.

"We rely on private donations," Smart said, "and we have many people from Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri who support our program here."

But the program needs more donations and pledges to reach its goal by the end of April. A three-year pledge payment plan has been created to encourage donations.

"We have done well so far," Smart said, "and the people have been helpful in the past."

For information about Mid-America Teen Challenge or to contribute, call (573) 335-6508 or write to P.O. Box 1089, Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63702.