MOOSEHEART, IL, Sept. 1 - When a pebble is dropped in a pond, it creates a series of rings that are small at the point the pebble entered the water and which grow larger as they move ever farther from that point of impact.

The Mooseheart Model of Care has undergone a similar dispersion since it was revised, tested and implemented on the campus of Mooseheart Child City & School in 1998.  A proven method for raising children in a residential-care setting, the Model of Care has gained fans all over the world.

On Sept. 8, Ron and Michaela Ahrens become like two pebbles when they travel some 8,500 miles to Tanzania, to provide a series of follow-up and training for both orphanage workers who have previously trained in the Model of Care--and then for others who have heard of the plan's success and who wish to learn for themselves how effective the Model of Care can be.

Ron Ahrens is the Director of Residential Living at Mooseheart. His wife Michaela is a Quality Improvement Evaluator.

"It is so rewarding going to places and seeing the improvements they have made in taking care of kids," Ron Ahrens said. "It's rewarding that Mooseheart is a part of that. It's one of the most rewarding things I've been able to do since I've been here; that we're able to help people around the world. It's not just a personal satisfaction, but a feeling that Mooseheart is able to help other people."

Representatives from the Mgolole Orphanage in Tanzania--located just south of Uganda and Kenya in eastern Africa--came to Mooseheart for training in 2007. They returned to their country and put in place the Mooseheart Model of Care in their orphanage of more than 60 children in the town of Morogoro. Word of the effectiveness of the Model of Care has spread, and representatives from other orphanages will be present to work with Mr. and Mrs. Ahrens for three days of training. Ron Ahrens said at least 45 will be in attendance for the workshop-style training, and there could be many more.

"I think it will enlighten us to the most basic principles in the model," Michaela Ahrens said. "We know the benefits here. But based on what they grasp onto and what we see in action from what the nuns have put in place in Tanzania, I think that will be interesting to see."

The Mooseheart Model of Care is the product of more than 40 years of evolution. Two Family Teachers unconnected with Mooseheart, Elaine and Lonnie Phillips, developed a Family Teaching program in 1967. By 1975, Lonnie Phillips was the Director of Youth Care at Boys Town, located near Omaha, NE. The Family Teaching plan came to Mooseheart in 1998 with then-Executive Director Dr. David Coughlin, and has evolved into the Mooseheart Model of Care.

Both Ron and Michaela Ahrens worked at Boys Town before they came to Mooseheart.

"I think there's an underlying level of mixing the head and the heart, which is how Father Peter at Boys Town always used to say it," Michaela Ahrens said. "There is a mixing of the science of things that work with kids and the love and compassion of taking care of them."

Michaela Ahrens said that mixture exists in every part of the world where concerned people take the care of children seriously, and she is sure she will see that in Tanzania.

"When we go to these orphanages, the 'heart' is already there. People who are in missionary work and who work in orphanages do not do so because they are making money. They do it because they truly want to give the children better lives. The Mooseheart Model of Care gives them the tools--the science--to be better able to do it."

Tanzania is one of those places where the issue of raising children has taken great importance in recent years. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has ravaged the country, as have diseases such as malaria. According to the World Health Organization, the average age in Tanzania is 17 and the average life expectancy is only 50. In the United States, the average age is 36 and the average life expectancy is 78.

What those numbers mean is that there are a large number of children without parents in Tanzania, and the need for effectively raising them to adulthood is great.

But while the circumstances surrounding the need for a program like the Mooseheart Model of Care are different in Tanzania than they are in the United States, the program as it has been refined at Mooseheart is universally adaptable.

Scott Hart came to Mooseheart as a houseparent in 1991 and was present when Dr. Coughlin came in 1998 and introduced the Model of Care. Hart became the Executive Director in 2003 and has seen many reasons why the Model of Care is so successful.

"The biggest thing about the transition to the Model of Care was the consistency it brought to the entire campus," Hart said. "The consequences for inappropriate behavior and the rewards for good behavior were the same when a student walked into the school or walked into their home (or any other home on campus). The Model of Care leveled the playing field, and gave Family Teachers the proper tools to teach those life skills to our kids."

Two days after the Ahrens leave for Tanzania, a training class begins at Mooseheart. Among those in that class are two natives of India, plus Americans who will be taking the Model of Care into residential settings in Peru and Pakistan.

"The Model of Care transcends nationalities," Hart said. "Teaching social skills is as important in the U.S. as it is in India. We may have different approaches to things. But there is still a specific greeting that is expected, whether you are in Peru or Tanzania or at Mooseheart."

The two Indians in the class come thanks to support from the Orphan Train, a Wisconsin-based program facilitated by the Rotary Club of Madison West Towne-Middleton.  It is this organization which helped bring the Tanzanian nuns to Mooseheart in 2007 and is helping to take Ron and Michaela Ahrens to Africa in September. Ed Fink is the Project Chairman of the Orphan Train, and he said his organization works as a "matchmaker," linking orphanages with service organizations.

Fink is also very aware of the benefits of the Mooseheart Model of Care.

"I first heard about Mooseheart when I was at a Rotary District conference and a speaker spoke of how her mother had abandoned them, how their father had died and how they had gone from place to place with no home," Fink said. "Eventually the authorities caught up with them and they found out their dad had been a Moose member. The children came to Mooseheart and this woman, who was very successful, said 'everything I have accomplished in life, I owe to Mooseheart.'"

Fink said the usage of the Mooseheart Model of Care has been used in a number of ways around the world.
"We know that, in Guatemala, the director of a home which had come to Mooseheart for training was sending kids to the local public school," Fink said. "They were having trouble with some of the girls there and the home director said that they should introduce a point system or rewards and consequences, just as they used at their home. The system they used was the Mooseheart system, and there in Guatemala, they introduced an integrated system between the school and the home, just as it happens at Mooseheart."

Ron and Michaela Ahrens depart for Tanzania knowing they will gain knowledge as well as give instruction, and both are eager to begin that two-way communication process.

"I am totally prepared to learn way more than we could ever teach them," Michaela Ahrens said.
  
Founded in 1913, Mooseheart is supported completely through private donations - the great majority of which come from the 1.1 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, 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 230 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, www.mooseheart.org ., www.moosehaven.org , or call 630-966-2229.