Paul Anderson Youth Home

Without Paul Anderson Youth Home I would never have had the tools or drive to become the man I am today. They saved my life and those of countless others. The staff are amazing and will lead you to excellence.

Looking back , I can confidently say that attending Paul Anderson was one of the most formative and rewarding experiences of my life. At the time, I might not have fully appreciated it at the time, but the structure, community, and high expectations at the school gave me a foundation that continues to serve me personally and professionally to this day Of course, it wasn’t always easy. Like many teenagers, I struggled at times with being away from home and adjusting to the school's demands. But those challenges were part of what made the experience meaningful. They taught resilience, self-awareness, and how to find strength in community.

My mom worked out there in the early 70s,and I would go out there after school .I formed some good friends with staff and the guys living there. Paul was a great man with a huge heart,treated me with kindness and respect. Glenda was a sweet and beautiful lady.Even to this day at 67,i look back and have beautiful memories of the guys who lived there and made Paul Andersons youth home what it is today. It's a place that will always be close to my heart and I still love the time's I stayed there. May God

The remarkable ministry of Paul and Glenda Anderson begun over 60 years ago has been a blessing to countless young men. I have been a supporter of the ministry for over 50 years and encourage others to see what God can do in extraordinary lives of dedicated service and ministry. If there were more than five stars, I would give that number and more!

Paul Anderson Youth Home is very near & dear to my heart. Their community is absolutely wonderful and the staff is top notch. Can not say enough good things about them. Call and make an appointment to meet with their team, you won't be disappointed.

I first became aware of Paul Anderson in 1969 when I was a senior in high school. He came and gave a program (feats of strength) and witnessed to his faith. Later, in January of 1970, I became a Christian. I support PAYH because they are doing a tremendous work for Christ in the lives of young men today. God Bless them.

I had raised my son by myself since he was an infant. When he was 16, he became unmanageable, staying out all night, not going to school, doing drugs. He had a dangerous heart condition, Wolf-Parkinson-White Syndrome. This was a lethal electrical conduction syndrome in which the heart would start beating at an abnormally high rate which could lead to heart arrest and death. Since he had been experimenting with cocaine, it was a matter of time before he would die from cocaine overdose. He did very well at the school. He was accepted to a community college after he was released from Paul Anderson School. He received his ADN (Nursing) and was first in his class. He has been a cardiac ICU nurse for the past five years and is highly respected by his peers and supervisors. There has been no recurrence of drug use. Paul Anderson Youth Home saved my son's life.

This was the most impactful 17 months of my life. I look back with the fondest memories…honestly some of the best experiences in my life! I would recommend the Youth Home as a 1st choice for parents with a troubled teen. I went in as a high school dropout and graduated 17 months later in December and started at Berry college a few weeks later in the spring semester. More importantly, it’s where I gave my life to Christ

I was in the Paul Anderson Youth Home in the early 80s at the Lewisville, TX location. While there were some good times I'll never forget, there were some bad times I'll never forget as well. At the time the home was run by Jerry Campbell and the other home a few miles away was run by his brother whose name escapes my memory. But I began to feel some type of way after I was called into Jerry's office after he opened a letter written to me that enclosed a picture of my Caucasian girlfriend. I was told that I wouldn't be allowed to keep in touch with her anymore because different races shouldn't date, because that's not what God wants. Then, there was the different punishments, the worst of them was to be Jerked-up. That was when you were literally snatched up and body slammed into a wall, on the floor, on a table, etc. This one kid who was 80 to 90 pounds soak and wet, was jerked-up because he was homesick and wasn't eating. Three different councilors took turns slamming this kid and forced him to eat. A few of us said enough was enough and wrote letters to the local papers. When someone told Jerry what we did, he systematically kicked us out one by one. When I heard they closed the Lewisville location I was so happy. The leadership, not all councilors, but the leadership was horrible.

I'm Patrick, I was at the home from November 2020- may 2022 First of all the mentors that worked in the field with us and the people were awesome people who genuinely cared to try and help those of us who were there. Now for the many negatives that I have about this place, The office staff would only interact with the boys if one of them had done wrong and it was never a "your doing good" just them shitting on you for everything that you could do wrong. The amount of fights that went down at this place was unbelievable and the type of hot headed guys that swore they were a part of a gang was like breathtaking. The favoritism that went down towards kids that were there and honestly the racism that some of the office would show was insane. I broke my hip in august of 2021 and I was at the point where I was struggling to walk and the place refused to take me in to the doctor until February of 2022 and keep in mind that I was having to run multiple miles a day on a broken hip for almost 6 months, when they finally did take me in I had to get immediate surgery that weekend because the injury had expanded to 3 breaks when it was only 1 at the beginning, I finished the entire program by my 13th month there and by my 14th I was on crutches and was absolutely useless for all the yard work that we were constantly doing in order to make the campus look nice and put on a good persona for the money hungry goblins that sat behind the desk in the office. I sat around and was forced to pick weeds for hours on day while on crutches because I was done with school and I could not do any of the actual yard maintenance that the other guys were doing while I could of just gone home instead. Also don't even get me started on the amount of times the guys would throw punches at me while I was on crutches and the place never took action on it. On that 13th month that I was there, I asked what I had to work on to graduate they would not tell me a thing that I had to do and said they knew what they were looking for but they cant tell me which was funny considering the fact that it was me that they were talking about. They told me that if I went home at that time that I would go right back to being the same kind of person that I was before I got sent there which looking back I find hilarious since out of all the guys that were there at the time I was I'm one of the only few who is in college and legitimately doing well as most of the guys I know from there are either back on drugs or living an overly lazy life and that is no shame on them, but full shame on the workers of that hell hole. The overall display that this place puts on about family and God first could not be any less accurate as this place has their own cultish values in the front offices that they want run, it kind of felt like, ( and this is not meant to be racist) slave and slave owner. PARENTS IF YOU HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT SENDING YOUR KID TO THIS PROGRAM PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE FIND A DIFFERNT PROGRAM TO SEND YOUR CHILD TO! THIS ONE DOES NOT CARE ABOUT THE WELL BEING OF YOUR KIDS BUT ONLY THE WELL BEING OF THEMSELVES. THE THINGS THAT I EXPERIENCED AND WENT THROUGH THERE ARE THINGS THAT I WISH NOT EVEN ON MY GREATEST ENEMY AS IT TRULY WILL SCAR ANY BOY WHO GOES THERE FOR LIFE, AS I STILL HAVE MANY MOMENTS WHERE I BREAK OUT IN TEARS OVER WHAT THAT PLACE PUT ME THROUGH DAY AFTER DAY FOR 18 MONTHS. PARENTS YOU WILL LOSE YOUR KID WORSE MENTALLY THAN HE IS BEHAVING I CAN PROMISE YOU THAT. SO PLEASE FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART DONT MAKE YOUR KIDS GO THROUGH WHAT ME AND SO MANY PEOPLE THAT I KNOW HAD TO GO THROUGH

Amelia Z is wrong. PAYH is full of loving, compassionate staff. If you didn't go there, all of your information is based on what a punk 16 year old told you. Not every boy has what it takes to change his life and complete the program. That's a reflection of the individual boy, not the PAYH.

I may not have attended the Paul Anderson Youth Home myself but I'm a close family member of a young man who went. The mistreatment this child endured in a so-called "family oriented and god-loving" environment was absolutely appalling. He has never been the same since, the mental abuse he suffered will affect him for the rest of his life. Do not send your child here. Children were forced to participate in pointless labor for unreasonable durations of time, often to where they were passing out from exhaustion. Tasks were performed in ninety degree weather and failure to do so resulted in an array of bizarre punishments, one of which included being forced to sit in an open field without sunscreen. A young boy attending contracted sun poisoning from this and the staff did little to help. Witnessing the staff blatantly ignore the children's needs put him in a constant state of anxiety. Any attempt to receive understanding resulted in being ridiculed and called weak by staff members. The program claims to help young boys become men, but instead they broke his spirit. In the end it was the constant belittlement and demoralization that affected him so negatively, and it's safe to say that this program does much more bad than good.

So I was a boy and I can say from experience the boys were treated like absolute shit and like when u visit it seems like an actual good decent place but like when u leave ur kid just get shit on 24/7 like this place was started to give ppl a second chance from jail and stuff but now they don't even take ppl from jail like that or give ppl a second chance they take kids who don't even need help like that but to be fair There were a few ppl who I felt like actually cared about me and wanted the best for me but the rest of them didn't do anything or show any signs of caring and it's under a new coo who has just kicked ppl out left and right which I was fine with bc they kicked me out on our bike ride trip for not doing anything I was simply asked at the end of the trip after they took my money if i wanted to stay I said idc and they sent me home along with 4 other ppl for not wanting to take pictures and you get no credit for what u do there like u work all day some days and like u don't even get a simple thank u or anything like one of the jobs u have there is to cook for everyone and almost every night some people who live on campus would come to dinner and just tell us how much it sucked instead of just enjoying there free meal like if u want something better cook something ur self don't rely on some 16 and 17 year olds to make ur food and they claim to be a Christian place but there r only a few ppl there who actually show that there Christan's and want u to be one as well the rest just give u every reason to not believe in god but that's how it is wouldn't send my kid here