I work at the Yahweh Center. I have done so for nearly three years. In the last year and half I have done the billing for the Yahweh Center. This “journalistic piece” is simply a misrepresentation of the truth. The charges brought by five (who the majority are I imagine former) disgruntled employees simply do not know the circumstances and/or are misrepresenting the truth for their own personal agendas. I am amazed that the WECT news agency, and I am using the term loosely, has so little journalistic integrity that it would not call the guy doing the billing. It is simply beyond words. The Yahweh Center as an agency has weathered a great deal of change due to the economic collapse and a tremendous amount of change in the NC mental health system with a great deal of grace. We have at the Yahweh Center hung on when many others quit. Those of us who really care still do even in hardship.

I am writing this because the truth hasn’t been fully told. It should be.

The news reporter said our executive director Carla Roberts, who also founded the agency in 1988, was lying about state reimbursement for services rendered in 2010 according to “a state source”. I can’t comment on whom they spoke to with at the state but that “fact” simply is not true. Whoever they spoke to were at best ill informed on the facts. For the record, assuming that little details like verifiable facts matter, the NC DMA website shows when the state reimburses for services rendered. The state of NC by the way has changed that schedule when their budget demanded that they do so causing us to have to adjust our budget. Neither our agency or any agency that receives Medicaid were reimbursed for services rendered for the last week in 2009 till the second week in 2010 because of check-write skips. These services were not paid until the second week in January 2010 for three weeks of services rendered. That is three weeks with no steady income other than donations. Also the “journalism” claims that we have received $500,000 in 2010. It fails to realize that part of that is revenue from 2009 and is only a fraction of our total expenditures like mortgage, telecommunication, electricity, taxes, etc. on top of salaries.

Frankly, we operate week by week and we do this with no storehouse of funds. You can’t pay people if the money isn’t there yet even though we are their to provide the service. We aren’t the federal government. We can’t pay people with money we don’t have. More importantly we are a Christian agency and our agency is ran under the belief that God will provide. There is no promise he will always provide when we expect him to. Yet God has always provided. Kids are getting healed in our programs. Young lives are being changed for the better. There are 60 some employees that work at the Yahweh Center. The majority of our staff sacrifices to work there. A lot of us could make more money working elsewhere. We work there because we love the mission of the Yahweh Center which is “to help heal the hurt.” We do this through a Christian framework with a state approved method of clinical care.

This year we have had several check-write skips and it plays havoc with our budget. For example, we were not paid this current week and will not be paid until this coming week by Medicaid. That incidentally is what led to the employee that said she wasn’t paid. Our payday would have been this Friday but we had no income available to pay any of us. All employees were told in advance about this weeks payday being pushed to next week. Next week we will get our check-write and pay all the employees. The employee that went on camera and made the charge by the way was factually wrong on two points.

First, every employee before being hired is told that they will not be paid until the end of the first month of services. Everyone of us that works there knows that before being employed. We use to do a bi-weekly pay schedule but Carla Roberts our executive director wanted to switch to weekly so employees could get their salaries quicker. The employee wasn’t due to be paid until after working for a month. We always pay in the rear. Second, she has worked there for around five weeks which means she couldn’t possibly been eligible for pay till this weeks pay period. She along with everyone else will be paid next week after the state funds are deposited in our account.

Our director is a woman of incredible hope. She had hoped enough private donations would have come in but that simply did not happen. Around 60% of our budget comes from private donations which has been really hurt by our incredibly damaged economy. Several regular donors have either not been able to give or cut their donations because they have either gone out of business or are under employed due to the economy. Donations come in but they due so sporadically.

We are also recovering from changes in a complex NC mental health system. NC cut statewide one of the services that we use to provide which was one of our largest revenue streams. We at one time had two Level 3 programs on our campus. The state effectively stopped doing authorizations to kill the level 3 program to save on the NC state budget. This meant effectively no new kids would be eligible for level 3 care. That decision effectively shut down two of our programs and dramatically cut our total income. Many agencies would have simply shut down and many did. We chose to continue because kids still need our service at times without pay. We had already opened one PRTF, a higher level of care for more severe cases, which was the first designed built PRTF in NC. We this pass year starting in January flipped one of our two former Level 3 buildings to become our second PRTF, which only came online this past May. We are running one of the best mental health programs in the state on a shoestring non-profit budget.

Some have left comments on WECT site that are factually untrue. The kids sleeping condition in our agency has been addressed numerous times. We have had both paid and volunteer repair men out literally weekly, at times daily, fixing heating and air units. We have to meet state certification for our facility and that building has routinely passed safety and health inspections that occur at random unspecified times. All donations earmarked for the children have been properly logged and given when appropriate to the children. In appropriate gifts like guns or objects that can be used as weapons are prohibited because our program is a psychiatric hospital. There is a plethora of school books and supplies in the administration building in addition to internet sources. Most of our children have learning disabilities, span 5 to 12 years of age, and this limits what resources we use. Text books are not given to the children because they can be used as weapons. As for the claim of religious abuse. It is ludicrous. Carla Roberts is a Christian. She draws her source of strength from the Christian scripture. She uses Scripture in her writings because it is part of her identity and also it is a Christian agency. If it were a Islamic agency it would used the Quaran. If it were Jewish it would use the Tanak. A person may disagree with a interpretation or application of sacred text but it is rather ridiculous to think a person of faith wouldn’t draw from their faith tradition. It may not qualify as libel but it certainly does not live up to the Christian standard of grace.

It saddens me that such a complex issue has been reduced by a news agency to what is nothing better than “gotcha journalism.” The media has a responsibility to report the news in an unbiased method. Honestly this comes across to those who actually know what is going on as a libelous campaign driven by emotion, half truths, and poor journalism. I do not pretend to know who the five “employees” are but I know we have had in the recent past employees literally walk off the job, not show up, and/or give short resignations which doesn’t give a adequate chance to find or train their replacement (which take several trainings and certifications which our agency pays for before any employees can legally work). This makes it terribly difficult for other employees and it is horrible for children who do not do well with abandonment.

I’m sad because this treats a great organization unfairly and it also doesn’t help the kids. If people want what is best for the agency and kids then they should seek out all the facts. This uncharitable behavior treats a great organization unfairly and it also doesn’t help the kids. If people want what is best for the agency and kids then they should seek out all the facts. Unsubstantiated claims by people not bold enough to put out their names are in my opinion worthless. Mine’s below with ways to contact me.

I’m also sad that former employees are hashing out their issues in the public sphere using the media in a way that certainly is not building the body of Christ. Those who hold to the Christian scriptures should attempt to address their issues in a Christian context. Scripture gives a principle in Matthew 18:15-19 on how to deal with another Christian whom you feel has sinned against you. Those who ignore that principle and simply bring it before the world court of public opinion open up the whole Church to mockery and undue criticality. They also disobey the Scripture principles in 1 Corinthians 6:1-7 by hoping that in the court of public opinion that they are found to be the “holy” and “right” party. All it does is make all who claim to be biblical Christians look like fools. I certainly never saw Jesus act like that at least in the Scriptures that I read. Instead I see a Jesus who was meek and humble. If that virtue had been followed many hard feelings would never have happened.

I hope this is a reflection of Light and not merely my heat for seeing a great organization and a good leader’s character besmirched. She is to classy to defend herself or speak ill of people. May we all one day be as virtuous.

Sincerely,
Will Adair
IT Director
wadair@yahwehcenter.org