Brad Shannon wants kids to know they are loved, loved without strings attached, that they can replace hopelessness with hope, that they have a purpose and a future.
To bring that message to kids, grades 7-12, in Cook County, Shannon has plans to build a faith-based, barrier-free center in the Cedar Grove Business Park on land recently purchased from the Cook County/Grand Marais E.D.A.
Called North Point, the center will work with area youth to support and mentor them, outside of existing programs in the county.
“I’m working on closing on the property right now,” he said. “Depending on whether I can get local financing and find an available builder, I would love to put up a 40 x 60 square foot building this summer.”
Whenever the building can be erected, Shannon says it will have 14-foot walls that will allow for a basketball hoop, maybe a boulder-climbing wall as well as room for a ping-pong table and maybe a pool table. Included in that space will be bathrooms and a couple of offices and a kitchen, he said.
Shannon, a former guidance counselor at I.S.D. 166, will run the program. He is partnering with treehousehope.org, which began in 1979 in the Twin Cities. Fred Peterson, a middle school teacher, saw kids slipping through the cracks and started Treehouse. He started to mentor kids in the neighborhood, and soon the program grew.
“Support groups offer kids a chance to talk about the problems they face and talk about what is going on in their lives,” said Shannon. He hopes to provide transportation to kids who need rides, as well as a meal.
There are three truths that the program wants every teen to believe: I am loveable, capable and worthwhile; I am loved without strings and never alone, and I have a future.
Before working at I.S.D. 166, Brad, who is also a Covenant minister, served as the camp director at Adventurous Christians Camp from 2016 to 2018.
In fact, Shannon has a long history in Christian ministry. He was the lead pastor of New Life Covenant Church in Saginaw, Minnesota, for 13 years, and he has served on staff at Bloomington Covenant Church and Covenant Pines, as well as served on various bible camp boards.
Brooke Shannon, Brad’s wife, has worked as the guest service director at Adventurous Christians Camp. Brooke has also served as a backpacking guide in Colorado, and she has led backpack trips on multiple mission trips. She was also the town clerk for Grand Lake, Minnesota.
“This won’t be an overtly Christian program,” said Shannon. “I know people have been hurt by the church. It will be more like A.A., who uses Christian values but isn’t necessarily a Christian program,” he said.
Just how many days the center will be open isn’t known yet. All of the programming will be free to the kids, said Brad, with some exceptions he said if they take a backpacking trip to say, Colorado. “Then, I would hope we could secure most of the financing for kids to go, but the kids might have to provide some money for a trip like that. I hope to include BWCA trips and other outdoor activities for the kids to do,” he said.
“Right now, we have a polarized world. I want this to be a barrier-free program where kids can be supported no matter what their faith. Kids are grieving. They need mentors to walk alongside them. Kids need to know that they are loved, loved unconditionally.”
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