Four special Yankton women are making a big difference in the lives of many of Yankton’s “special” residents through ERTH: Ecumenical Religious Training for the Handicapped.
The program has been rotating weekly one-hour Saturday afternoon meetings between Yankton churches throughout the school year since March 1, 1980.
“It’s designed to bring the Gospel of Christ to those with special needs,” Sister Margo Tschetter, one of two original developers, says. “I worked with special needs students at a preschool our monastery operated for a number of years until the public school system started providing for those needs. When our preschool closed, I still had a desire to work with special needs individuals.”
At about the same time that S. Tschetter was researching what special needs services might be lacking in the Yankton community, she met new Yankton resident, JoAnne Dickinson.
“My husband and I had just moved here from Marshall, Minnesota,” Dickinson says. “In Marshall, I had worked with a group of elementary school children who were given release time to help meet their faith needs. When I inquired about the possibility of continuing that kind of work in Yankton, I was referred to Sister Margo.”
Together, Tschetter and Dickinson reviewed results of their special needs research and began developing a religious training program for Yankton’s special needs adults. Initially, participants came from Sacred Heart Parish, but it didn’t take long for the group to grow in numbers.
“Participants were bringing friends,” Dickinson says. “Soon there were more participants from other churches than from the Catholic church.”
After a few years of operation, ERTH also attracted special needs residents at Bloomfield.
“The program was never intended to remove responsibility from churches for involving special needs individuals,” Dickinson says. “The purpose of ERTH is to prepare a Gospel lesson at a special needs learning level. One of the reasons we rotate meetings between different churches is that we’ve found our students find it very important to let us know when our meeting is held at their church.”
Approximately 60 special needs people who reside in group homes or individual apartments in Yankton and Bloomfield, NE, gather weekly for the lessons prepared by either Tschetter, Dickinson, Linda Balfany and Jane Walser.
“One person could never keep ERTH going,” Tschetter says.
“We can hold a meeting with just two of us present, but the ideal is when all four of us are there.”
Meetings consist of singing, a lesson and serving treats.
Tschetter, Dickinson, Balfany and Walser prepare the lessons, participants provide treats and the hosting church provides beverages. At each meeting, supportive personnel who transport special needs individuals to the meeting, are also among the group.
“We usually plan for at least 70 people at each meeting,” S. Tschetter says. “The four of us take turns presenting the lessons so that we each are responsible for a lesson about every four weeks.”
Finding appropriate materials has long been a struggle for the women. At one point S. Tschetter wrote a full year of lessons.
“Most of the time the materials available to us are geared toward children,” S. Tschetter says. “We respect the fact that our students are adults and it can be challenging to identify lesson plans that are appropriate for them.”
One other significant ongoing challenge the women face is finding other volunteers to continue ERTH.
“It’s quite a commitment,” Balfany says. “I became involved with ERTH when my good friend Jane was ill and had to step back for at least one year. When she asked me to help I decided it was something I could do short term. However, when Jane was well enough to come back, I found I didn’t want to completely give up my responsibilities.”
Walser, whose career was in social services, became connected with ERTH in 1983 when one of her pastors at First United Methodist Church asked her to join the program as a teacher.
“Throughout the years, a career and family pressures sometimes caused me to consider leaving ERTH but I couldn’t give up the joy and satisfaction of interacting with this group and the opportunity to teach of Jesus’ love for them,” Walser says. “Without those dedicated staff there would be no ERTH.”
Walser credits staff a Yankton and Bloomfield’s group homes with making sure ERTH participants are transported to class each week.
“Some participants have severe physical challenges,” Walser says. “Transporting them is not always easy. Without that dedicated staff there would be no ERTH.”
While all the women struggle from time to time with health issues that hinder their ERTH involvement, they share an equal passion for making the service available.
“We often role play during meetings,” Dickinson says. “I once asked one of the young women to make a pretend phone call to one of the members of the group that day. To my surprise she called one of the young men there and asked if he would like to take her to a movie. That caused me to recognize that the people we work with have special needs, but they also have much in common with us.”
“I’m certain I’ve learned much more from special needs students than they’ve ever learned from me,” S. Tschetter says. “I’ve been amazed at the amount of scripture they often know and how much they remember about different Bible stories.”
S. Tschetter, Dickinson, Balfany and Walser hope that ERTH will experience an influx of new volunteers in the near future. As they advance in years, they recognize the importance of involving others who will eventually step into their shoes.
“There are a number of ways to volunteer,” S. Tschetter says.
“We are delighted to have visitors who simply come to learn more about the program. It’s interesting how many people step up to help teach and find they want to return again and again to interact with ERTH participants.”
The women strive to keep the structure of the program simple, meeting annually to plan lessons and church rotations.
“The Yankton Area Ministerial Association holds the funds we use to pay for materials,” Dickinson says. “Local churches are asked to contribute funds to pay for materials and some participants make donations. Sacred Heart Monastery, Knights of Columbus and the VFW also provide funding. We work together as a team to keep it going.”
Churches currently hosting ERTH meetings include Sacred Heart, St. Benedict, Calvary Baptist, First United Methodist, St. John’s Lutheran, Trinity Lutheran, Peace Presbyterian, Riverview Reformed and United Church of Christ Congregational.
“We realize that this kind of volunteerism is not for everyone,” S. Tschetter says. “But anyone who wants to know more about ERTH is always welcome to attend our 1:00 meetings. Perhaps it would be convenient to visit when the meeting is held at their church. They can always contact any one of us, too. This is a much appreciated, much needed program and we want to see it continue.”
