Ruth Home of Compassion

[ruthhomevictim]

:soapbox:  I am in search of anyone who was in the home the years of 1981 to 1983 when it was closed... I know it's been a long time ago but I just found out it was closed down!!! Wow. I want to talk if you are out there and willing to correspond. Lots of baggage to share!!! lol :flame:

[Ursus]

I am in search of anyone who was in the home the years of 1981 to 1983 when it was closed... I know it's been a long time ago but I just found out it was closed down!!! Wow. I want to talk if you are out there and willing to correspond. Lots of baggage to share!!! lol :flame:

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[Lea1]

I was at the Ruth home of compassion from 1983 (Dec.) until 1985 (spring).  The home was open at least until then.  I found out it had closed in the year or so after I left.  The most important thing I learned since leaving there was that God is not at all how they portrayed Him.  He's not some big meanie waiting to stomp us like a bug.  He truly does love us.  The one good thing I took away from that place was a knowledge of His Word.

[Che Gookin]

Hard to believe god exists in a place like that. I prefer to visualize him as existing over the top of it wishing he was the vengeful god of old so he could stomp the place like a cockroach.

[Lea1]

As I said, the Ruth Home of Compassion was at least open until 1985 when I left there.  'Aunt Dot and Uncle Bert' may have had legal trouble in 1983, but not to the point it was closed that year.  The girls who were there when i got there were Susie and Tika, Aunt Dot's right and left arms, and many others.  Here are the ones I remember: Lorraine, two named Kathy (or Cathy), Samantha and that's about all I can remember.  Of course, Colleen lived in the house next to the 'home'.  
I remember Samantha well.  And Susie, as she was mannered very much like a pit bull, and given free reign to cause us agony.
The girls who went there were, for the most part, broken before they ever showed up at the door.  But being there had a way of making one's spirit crumble because of the treatment.  Once I left, I had nightmares for months, waking up in horror, thinking I was still there.  It was a confinement not only from the outside world, but a prison of fear.  Not allowed to talk to each other except 'yes maam' to the group leader, not allowed to shower except once a week, three squares of toilet paper for 'number 1', six squares of toilet paper for 'number 2'. Timed showers (was it two or three minutes?), on our knees sweeping or scrubbing carpet, not allowed to eat on Wednesdays, having to eat cereal with weevils in it or get beat,  and forced to go into God's house, of all places and pretend things were fine.  
Who could forget the lie we had to sing?  "I'm glad to be a Ruth HOme Girl, there's no other I'd rather be, living a life for Jesus, with my happy family, we are taught about the Bible, cause we know that's the only way, So I'm glad to be at the Ruth Home today....."
Now let me emphasize here....God is Holy, Sovreign, Creator, Ruler, AND God is love, something we were NEVER taught there.  God loved each one of us before we were born, and loves us still.  Why did He allow those people to hurt and abuse us? I don't know.  But He LOVES us Ruth Home Girls.

[scottnsunny]

I first saw these posts las night, and was in the process of responding to them when my computer went dead. Thank God it did, because I had some preaty ungodly things to say to you people. Some of you may remember me "Scott" or my sister Pam or cousin Tobi being there for the summers. The one and only thing I will agree with, is that most of the girls were already broken when they arrived there, that is why their families relied on my family to get them back in shape. My Grandpa passed away in 1995, and he was one of, if not the holiest man I have ever known. I was never taught that God was a big meanie waiting to squash us for our sins. The main thing I have been told my whole life, is that our God is NOT a vengeful god that punishes us for our sins, but a loving god that grieves for us when we sin. My grandma is still alive and well, and I constantly look to her for guidance. She receives many cards of love on holidays from girls that were at the home. Why would someone that was "mistreated" still go through the trouble of doing that many years later? I would like to know how many of you were pregnant, or drug addicts when you showed up at the Ruth Home. Where do you think you would be today if you hadn't been sent to that place of love. The last thing I will say, is that Tika was one of the biggest trouble makers at the home, certainly not a left or right arm. If you cant recall that simple fact, then what other "facts" have you misconstrued?

[Oscar]

I pulled some news from back then

Petition Seeks Evaluation Of Girls' well-being, Rome News-Tribune - October 12, 1980
Locks Gone From Doors At Home Of Compassion, Rome News-Tribune - February 24, 1987
Suit Makes Brainwashing Claim, by Reginald Stuart, Ocala Star-Banner - March 6, 1982
What is a private school - Sen. Fincher Says Clearer Definition Needed In State Law On 'home", Rome News-Tribune - February 7, 1982
Juvenile Court Says Girls' Home Can Stay Open, Rome News-Tribune - October 17, 1980
States question fundamentalist discipline, The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution,  September 22, 1985
Status Unknown On Religious Colony, Rome News-Tribune - October 3, 1980

[ranfrom64]

I was at the Ruth Home Of Compassion in 1979 or 1980.I was also at The Bethesda Home for Girls run by Hubert and Dorothy Barnwell in 1978.I believe .could have the dates wrong.I did fine in Bethesda,but being at the Ruth Home was quite a different experience altogether.I ended up leaving in the middle of the night with a "Helper".The Barnwells and Miss Colleen were on tour.I do remember Tobi and she was a little girl then.(in Mississippi) The helper and I made it home somehow.LONG STORY.I remember 2 sisters named Rhonda and Sandra.

[Lea1]

This is for 'scottnsunny'.  Thanks for pointing out that you are their grandchild.  Of course you would not have been treated the same way we were.  'Aunt Dot' was never the same person when others were around.   She was even a little nicer when 'Uncle Bert' was there.  She had her picks, and if you don't remember Tika being one of them you  are having memory issues.  In case YOU don't remember, Susie lost her good standing with 'Aunt Dot'.  She was so afraid she would be treated like some of the rest of us she slit her both arms repeatedly from wrist to elbow with a pair of scissors...horrible, very deep gashes...and was NEVER taken to the doctor.  Good Old Colleen patched her up.  Or what about the girl  (I won't share her name) who drank the Draino, trying to commit suicide?  What about the little diabetic girl who snuck into the M&M's, knowing they could kill her (she received insulin injections daily form Colleen), and went into a coma?  They HAD to take her to the hospital or risk her death.  Lots of girls in there tried suicide, and many more wanted to.
From what I can gather, they got closed down  in Rome around 1980 and moved to Calhoun.  And they may not have been horrible to you, and 'Aunt Dot' may get letters from other girls who were her 'picks', but YOU WERE NOT ONE OF US.  YOU DON"T KNOW WHAT SHE DID TO US.  And by the way, I was neither pregnant nor a drug addict when I showed up there at 12 years old.  I was a runaway.  My home life was rough.  And being there made things worse.  You may not have been taught God was sitting on ready to destroy you if you blinked wrong, BUT WE WERE.  So don't tell me what they were like to us.  However they treated you is YOUR business.  How they treated me and the other girls is mine.

[Cathy540]

This is Cathy Berry or that's what my name was then. Tika and Susie should know me. Do you remember Sarah the diabetic and quiet Barbara? Get in touch with me at [email protected].

[Cathy540]

I was in the home at these dates and before feel free to e-mail me to vent and I can find out who u r. Reply to: [email protected] I am Cathy Berry the tall blonde haired girl from TN.

[marie]

Hi my name was Nelda Marie Kilgore. I was in both homes 78-80? Iwas one of the girls taken from Mississippi to Georiga by bus. I was also a outside girl. witch in Ms I milked cows. I'm putting this out there so you will know I am for real. I have a hard time with most of the names from then but a few i can remember is 2 Miss karens  miss colline workers...There was a one karen that got married there and a girl named Cindy married a man named self.To this day I still have nitemares about Uncle Bert. I would love to talk to ANYONE who was there around that time. :flame: