Alumni Serious about Offering Freedom from Sexual Addiction

Vowing
toSave
Marriages
by Rachel Castlen ’08
As with many engaged
couples, Chris Merrick
and Jill Neufeld were
apprehensive about
taking the proverbial
plunge as graduating
seniors at JBU.
Through the Center
for Relationship
Enrichment (CRE),
however, couples like
Chris and Jill can receive
information and training
that will aid them in their
upcoming marriage.
And thanks to a five-year, $2.7 million federal grant from the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CRE can
provide marriage workshops, seminars, and materials to couples
throughout Northwest Arkansas absolutely free.
The grant is funded through President George W. Bush’s
Healthy Marriages Initiative. According to the Department of
Health and Human Services web site, 32 organizations received
the Healthy Marriage Demonstration Grant in 2006. CRE is
the only organization in Arkansas to receive the grant. The
individual grants, which require a 10 percent match from the
participating organization, ranged from $300,000 to $550,000
a year with funding expected to be renewed each year for five
years. CRE is now in the second year of the grant’s award.
Through funding from the grant, CRE has implemented the
NWA Healthy Marriages Program, through which they host
free events that focus on enriching the relationships of both
engaged and married couples. CRE is tasked with serving a sixcounty
region in Northwest Arkansas, which includes Benton, fundamentals at a community meeting.
CRE’s executive director, Dr. Gary Oliver, presents marriage
Washington, Sebastian, Crawford, Madison, and Carroll
counties.
Within these six counties, divorce is prevalent. In fact, Northwest Arkansas, which
has a 54 percent divorce rate, has one of the highest divorce rates in the nation. The
average national divorce rate is 48 percent.
On the NWA Healthy Marriages web site (www.nwahealthymarriages.org), CRE
states that its “passion is to see a reduction in the divorce rate and an increase in
marital satisfaction. We want our community to become known as a place where
healthy marriages thrive.”
“I’m very excited with the opportunities [from the grant] to make an impact within
our community,” said Ken Eichler, NWA Healthy Marriages Project coordinator.
Eichler, whose position was created because of the grant, said CRE has had no
trouble finding ways to use the resources that are allotted by the grant and JBU’s 10
percent matching funds.
Among other operational costs, the grant pays for program publicity, the use of
conference facilities, program materials, and refreshments at each event, allowing
couples to attend the conferences free of charge.
Because the grant is federally funded, CRE does not include religious content in
its programming. (The grant’s purpose is to assist in the marriages of any interested
couple, regardless of religious beliefs.) But while the grant prevents teaching from the
Bible, the teachings at CRE workshops strongly align with biblical beliefs.
“What we know to be God’s truth is still true even if we don’t read it from the
Bible at our events,” Eichler said. “Because these aren’t Christian events, we have a
chance to reach couples who need help who would never turn to a religious group.
We’re called not just to help Christians, but to help those in need. If we can help
couples of any back-ground strengthen their marriages, we are helping our entire
community.”
CRE’s goal is to reach at least 13,000 couples in Northwest Arkansas throughout
the five years of the grant through the following three objectives: (1) provide training
for premarital couples; (2) provide enrichment activities for married couples; (3) train
Marriage Champions, who are couples serving as volunteer premarital and marriage
enrichment educators in community-based small groups.
Training for Engaged Couples
Chris and Jill attended CRE’s Engaged Couple’s Workshop, eight hours of hands-on
activities that help couples work through issues they will face during their engagement
and into their marriage.
For Jill, the workshop helped her consider relationship topics that she hadn’t
thought about before, such as expectations that she and Chris had about finances,
16 Brown Bulletin Summer 2008 Brown Bulletin Summer 2008 17