MOOSEHEART, IL - While there were television cameras rolling and assembled members of the press on-hand, there was nothing scripted or phony about the way Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman and his family melted into the group of Mooseheart students on Friday afternoon.

That same sense of authentic emotion carried through both the Friday and Saturday evening concerts at the Mooseheart Fieldhouse. By the time Saturday’s event ended, the 1,000 who attended each night, the bands who played and the Mooseheart students who attended, all left with a feeling of happiness that the Rush Tour-produced event took place.

Top of that list, however, was Chapman and his family, who came to Mooseheart to see what makes the place special, and were certainly not disappointed in what they found.

“I’m leaving with a full heart,” Duane Chapman said. “There’s no pity here. They are just full of life. Pity can not be shown because there’s nothing to be sorry about. I’ve never been to a facility like this in my life,” Duane Chapman said. “I thought it was going to be sad. It isn’t sad. I feel energized.”

Chapman left something else behind: A $30,000 check, money raised through online donations by his fans at www.dogthebountyhunter.com and through an Ebay auction to spend a day on the television set with Chapman on A&E’s top-rated cable show “Dog the Bounty Hunter.” That auction raised $10,100.

“I told my fans who were saying ‘oh Dog, you’re going’ that if they love, send us some money,” Duane Chapman said. “We can leave it with the kids. If you love something and can afford it, then you should pay. And as you pull out that $10 bill and you say, ‘from my heart to those kids,’ that is what America is all about.”

Chapman came to Mooseheart with his wife Beth, son Leland and daughter Lyssa. They met Mooseheart children at the school’s Student Center prior to Friday’s concert.

“They asked me ‘what do we do?’ ” Duane Chapman said. “I said ‘be yourselves.’ I saw Baby Lyssa smiling. I saw Leland with the girls and the boys. Beth is always Momma Beth. This is something we can go back as a family and sit down and compare love notes. Hopefully we’ll do a yearly event and be able to come back. I’m sure my family will never forget this.”

Beth Chapman spent considerable time interacting with the students and talking to school staffers.

“I think it’s fantastic,” Beth Chapman said. “Sometimes when we go into houses and we take a parent away, we know that parent isn’t going to come back for awhile. It does trouble me to not know what is going to happen to those kids and who is going to take care of them and feed them.”

Since its 1913 founding by the Moose fraternity, Mooseheart has been a spot where children who have had difficult circumstances in their lives find a a secure, responsible environment in which to grow up.

“I want to cry,” Beth Chapman said. “The outpouring of the community here and by the Moose Fraternity that created this school and give to it every year, it’s just a fantastic effort. It gives me a lot of comfort in my spiritual life that there is a good facility like this. Mooseheart scoops those children up and places them into a loving situation where they can love, and they are nurtured and they are told ‘you can be anything you want to be.’ ”

The title to Chapman’s Friday speech was “I’ve Been There.” While the circumstances that led Chapman to become Dog the Bounty Hunter are unique to him, he has seen some hard times.

“I’ve had certain challenges,” Duane Chapman said. “Dog has a lot in common with them.”

Early on Friday afternoon, members of some of the bands that played in the weekend’s concerts met Mooseheart children during their lunch periods.

Mooseheart fourth-grader Catherine Stuart got to meet “Inhabited” lead singer Sara Acker.

“It’s cool because we get to meet new people and talk to them about what they’re like,” Mooseheart fourth grader Catherine Stuart said. “She’s gotten to tell us about her songs and how they travel. That’s cool.”

Third-grader Krysal Rodriguez was also at the table with Stuart and Acker.

“It makes me feel he’s really nice and he really appreciates Mooseheart and he wants to come out there and help us,” Rodriguez said.

For her part, Acker was just as happy sitting with the Mooseheart students as they were to meet a real-life professional musician.

“This is totally different to what we usually do,” Acker said. “I like this kind of thing, hanging out with kids. I like one-on-one stuff before and after shows. I like getting to know the kids too.”

Acker and the rest of Inhabited sang “Happy Birthday” to Mooseheart sophomore Robin Young, who was in the midst of her 16th-birthday celebration. Later in the day, Dog the Bounty Hunter led the crowd at the Mooseheart Student Center in another rendition of the song.

“It’s one of my best birthdays ever,” Young said. “One of the band members gave me a quarter. Getting kissed on the cheek by Dog and Leland (Chapman) is pretty nice too. This is better than all the ‘MTV: Sweet Sixteen’ parties you can have.”

Mooseheart Child City & School is a 1,000-acre community and school for children and teens in need of a secure home, located just south of Batavia, IL, between Illinois Route 31 and Randall Road.

Founded in 1913, Mooseheart is supported completely through private donations - the great majority of which come from the 1.3 million men and women of the Moose fraternal organization, in more than 1,800 Lodges and 1,600 Chapters located throughout the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Bermuda. Moose International headquarters is located on the Mooseheart campus.

Since its founding, Mooseheart has operated a complete, accredited kindergarten-through-high-school academic program, plus art, music, religious and vocational training, and interscholastic sports. It is an extremely nurturing and student-tailored program, with an average student-teacher ratio of 12-1.

Mooseheart students who complete their studies with a 3.0 GPA or better (4.0=A) are eligible for up to five years of annually renewable scholarship funding, covering tuition, room and board in an amount comparable to that required for an in-state student at an Illinois public university.

Mooseheart is currently home to nearly 250 students, ranging in age from preschoolers to high school seniors. Applications for admission to Mooseheart are considered from any family whose children are, for whatever reason, lacking a stable home environment. Mooseheart boasts its own U.S. Post Office and a fully functioning branch of Fifth Third Bank.

In addition to Mooseheart, Moose International also supports Moosehaven, a 70-acre retirement community near Jacksonville, FL founded in 1922; and conducts more than $90 million worth of community service programs annually.

Founded in 1888, the Moose organization has long offered its members an opportunity to do good for others while celebrating life, with family, social, and sporting activities. For more information on the Moose organization, visit the websites at www.Mooseintl.org and www.Mooseheart.org or call 630-966-2229.