Eagle Village, Hersey

When Marcus was younger, he idolized Michael Jackson. He had a keyboard and, as he grew older, he learned to operate complicated sound equipment. He began rapping and writing music constantly, channeling his feelings into song.

Unfortunately, Marcus’s childhood inspired lyrics that no child should understand. After being thrown out of his home, he was bounced around from relative to relative, and finally ended up on the streets, where he was introduced to gangs, drugs and prostitution.

“In order to survive, I had to do whatever it took,” he said.

At age 13, Marcus entered the system. Since that time, he can’t count the number of places he’s been sent to—foster homes, treatment facilities, youth detention programs and boot camps.

“When I got tired of a place, I usually ran,” explains Marcus.

And he kept running, until he came to Eagle Village in rural Hersey, Michigan.  He’d have to run a long way to leave the 683 acre facility, and the longer he stayed, the less inclined he felt to run.

Eagle Village offers a wide range of programs including residential treatment, assessment services, short-term respite care, experiential-based programs, specialized foster care, adoption and post-adoption services, and community-based services, which Amway supports through their corporate giving program. To Marcus, Eagle Village represented a final opportunity to turn his life around and secure a better future for himself.

Marcus learned to trust again by building powerful relationships with his counselors. He’s particularly close to two of them, who are from Detroit and have backgrounds similar to his own.

Since settling in to life at Eagle Village, Marcus has been working on completing his G.E.D. requirements so that he can graduate from high school. After graduation, he plans to take the A.C.T. college entrance exam so he can attend Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. He wants to study business management. One day, his goal is to own a recording studio.

Marcus recognizes that without the treatment plan at Eagle Village, the only plans he’d be making would involve surviving from one day to the next.

“They never gave up on me – even when I wasn’t listening. They just kept talking. Then one day, I started listening,” he says.

Some day, this runaway boy turned rapper may make it in the entertainment industry. But whether his career grows in that direction or another, one thing’s for sure. Marcus knows that he has a future, and that his possibilities are endless.