Pam Pacer, a supervisor at the Youth Home since 2009, gathers veggies from the Youth Home’s garden. Thanks to a hot summer and lots of TLC from the teen gardeners, this summer’s garden produced an abundance of squash and tomatoes.Pam began her career in direct support care at Buffalo Road and then Prospect Avenue before coming to the Youth Home when it first opened.
She blends s a caring compassion with a youthful enthusiasm as she supports the eight teenagers who live there. She and others on the staff receive a considerable amount of in-service training in trauma-informed care.
“Since many of the kids come from some rough backgrounds, you have to build trust because each one has been traumatized at some point,” she said, adding that simple, joint tasks such as gardening together helps build that important trust.