UTAH `VILLAGE' GIVES TROUBLED YOUNGSTERS A 2ND CHANCE

In the late 1960s a group of women formed an organization called Women Alert. Lila Bjorklund was asked if she would be president, but she decided that being first vice president of the state PTA precluded that. However, she told them she would be chairwoman of the Youth and Human Services Committee.

"The first day I stood up and said, `We need a home for girls,' " Bjorklund recalled. "One of the women said, `Oh Lila, you'll never do that!' "But that's exactly what Bjork-lund did. While the organization Women Alert faded away, Utah Girls Village went on to create two homes for troubled girls. The organization later became Utah Youth Village and began helping wayward boys, too. There are now four homes for youths and 30 therapeutic family homes where married couples present the teaching-family program developed at Father Flannigan's Boys Town. Utah Youth Village also does foster training for the state.

On Thursday, Oct. 14, Utah Youth Village will honor Vera Stringham, former Juvenile Court Judge John Farr Larson and Judge Regnal W. Garff Jr. of the Utah Court of Appeals, a former juvenile court judge, at a reception and dinner in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building's Empire Room. The reception will begin at 6:30 p.m., with dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets are $50 per person. Call 272-9980 for reservations or more information.

Founders Day honorees Larson and Garff have a special place in Lila Bjorklund's heart. "Both of them worked hard helping make Utah's juvenile court system one of the best in the nation," she said. "They have great concern for children, youths and families and have always been so sensitive to their needs," Bjorklund said.

Stringham, who is 93, is also being honored for her many years serving on the village's Youth Caring Council. She provided many of the furnishings for the new Raymond Home for Boys.

There are now two forceful Bjorklunds at Utah Youth Village. Lila Bjorklund's son Eric is executive director of the program. He explained in an interview why the teaching-family model has an 85 percent success rate compared to an average of 36.8 percent success rate for other residential programs.

"We like to say we help kids by building up brick by brick," Eric Bjorklund said. "There are thousands of daily interactions in a child's world, especially at home. We focus on the everyday things kids do, and when they learn to succeed in the small things, the big things will reveal the child's increased ability to be successful.