March 28, 2011

Dear Governor Brewer, My name is Cheryl Murillo and I am a parent of a teenager who began to take drugs and get into trouble about 2 1/2 years ago. Her grades plummeted, she became moody and abusive, her lifestyle and her health were destructive, and her attitude and language were unacceptable. She was taking hardcore drugs and her life was in jeopardy. She quit going to church and she adopted a gangster rap mentality. We had raised our daughter in the church and she had been an honor student all her life. She played many instruments and was an incredible athlete (especially in volleyball) and she quit all these things. She no longer seemed to care about anything. Then she got into trouble with the law and was on probation. We were desperate for help. We looked into about fifty different programs in California, Utah and Arizona (we live in California). Many good programs were about 6,000 - 10,000/month and were closer to home, but none of them really matched our spiritual beliefs. Then we found Hope4Teens and after talking to Robert Torres we chose this program. The thing that most impressed us was that instead of cleaning you up, educating you on proper life choices, and behavioral rewards and punishments, this program was based on finding what happened to get you to this place and bring healing, and transformation to your heart. They teach the young healthy life choices and good character building skills in addition to good communication skills. They were, by treatment center standards, affordable. But most of all my husband and I trust the pastor with the life of our daughter. We have just been visiting our daughter here and we feel so good about our choice. We are so thankful for this opportunity. In just two months, our daughter is back. She is loving, alert, appreciative, seeking direction for her life, worshiping God and laughing a lot. She is here for a six month program which will really get her solid and prepared to go back into real life. She is also being trained in vocational skills to prepare her for college and the workplace (she already graduated high school barely). We are so thankful for the Hope4teens program and for Robert and Ceci Torres. They saved my daughters life. Thank you, Cheryl Murillo