The SHACK: Impacting the Community
It may be cliche, but it’s true: It takes a village to raise a child.
Greybull resident and mother of three, Teresa Davis, knows it. Greybull High School Principal Ty Flock knows it. Greybull Police Chief Bill Brenner knows it.
Youth need to receive positive guidance from many avenues, and all three see The SHACK playing an important role in the Bighorn Basin’s “village.”
The number of visits to the community youth center, alone, show its impact. In the last year, 114 of the 285 students in grades 5-12 in Greybull visited The SHACK. That’s a 40 percent reach. On a regular basis, 10 to 20 percent of area youth spend time at The SHACK, a place consistently described as safe, positive, fun, helpful, stress-relieving, and encouraging.
Some students call it their home away from home. Some go so far as to say they would be dead without its stable influence in their lives. Many say their time at The SHACK gives them the support and courage they need to overcome anxiety or bad habits and to pursue growth and a meaningful future.
The SHACK is making an impact, and it’s being noticed by other members of each child’s village — the parents, the schools, the churches, the law enforcement officers.
“When I first came here, we dealt with … a lot of vandalism, underage drinking, underage smoking, just juvenile issues,” Brenner says. “I can guarantee that has declined.”
Greybull Police Chief Bill Brenner believes The SHACK helps keep kids safe.
Brenner can’t point to The SHACK as the only reason for decline, but he believes it has helped: “The most valuable thing that we get out of The SHACK in law enforcement is it gives the kids a positive place to go and a positive thing to do rather than get in trouble.”
Flock agrees. He remembers one student who came to Greybull High School in 9th grade who “just pulled little stunts here and there.” That student started going to The SHACK, and every year Flock saw his behavior improve.
“What impacts The SHACK had, and what impacts we had, and just life itself, I think we all worked pretty well together to help that kid,” Flock says.
Greybull High School Principal Ty Flock appreciates the positive influence of The SHACK on local students.
As a result, when he sees students in school who could benefit from spiritual guidance or positive influence, he doesn’t hesitate to recommend The SHACK.
Davis, whose three kids frequent The SHACK, sees its influence daily. She sees it contributing to her number one goal as a mother: the safety and happiness of her children.
Teresa Davis is thankful for the positive influence of The SHACK in the lives of her three children.
“I want my kids to be happy,” she says. “That is a daily struggle with teenagers, especially with this generation. I see them being so happy here.”
When her daughter is having a bad day, she finds encouragement at The SHACK. When sports or other obligations prevent a visit to The SHACK, her kids get “pretty bummed.”
“I’m kind of jealous,” Davis jokes. “I actually wish I had something like this when I was younger around here.”
The SHACK makes an impact now, and it certainly impacts the future for Bighorn Basin youth. As positive psychology expert Shawn Achor has found, happiness is intrinsically linked to success.
“Your brain works significantly better at positive than at negative, neutral or stressed,” Achor said in a Forbes article. “Every single business and educational outcome improves when we start at positive rather than waiting for a future success.”
Future success for Greybull’s youth is starting now, at positive, because they have a village, and for many, that village includes The SHACK.