PICKENS COUNTY — Freedom Village USA, the self-proclaimed “premier Christian home for at risk youth,” announced March 8 they were closing their 150-acre complex in Lakemont, N.Y., and relocating their entire ministry to Pickens County.
“We’ve been given the opportunity to take over a youth home in South Carolina,” said Jeremy Brothers, son of Freedom Village’s Founder, Fletcher Brothers. “And we are excited about that.”
Brothers cited recent legislation passed in New York as a main reason for the change of venue, specifically the “laws that have been passed regarding abortion and the laws that have been passed limiting our religious freedoms,” he said.
What Brothers did not mention as a reason behind the move was a recent ruling by a judge in New York ordering Freedom Village USA to pay out over $1.5 million. The order was handed down after former employees filed suit for back wages near the end of a bankruptcy case filed by the church that dragged on for 22 years.
According to records, Freedom Village told the bankruptcy court it would consider selling the campus in Lakemont to repay the debts and the property was listed for sale last month.
Despite the announcement of the ministry’s impending relocation “within the next few months,” no permits have been filed with the South Carolina Department of Social Services nor with Pickens County itself.
“When I first heard about it, I talked with Gerald (Wilson, county administrator) and with the people in the planning and development offices,” said Pickens County Council Chairman Roy Costner. “No one (from Freedom Village) has contacted us about anything.”
Costner said Wilson as well as Pickens County attorney Ken Roper were going to be looking into the matter.
“We’re not in a position to say who can and who can’t move here,” said Costner. “But some of the complaints against these guys (Freedom Village) are worrisome.”
In addition to the financial woes and previous lawsuits, there are multiple online blogs and discussion forums accusing the group of everything from brainwashing to abuse.
“I was there in 89 as a staff kid. I was 13 so I wasn’t privileged to much info, but there were some shady things going on there,” wrote Allen Burchette in September of 2017 in response to a posting on the blog “Religious Cults — The Freedom Village … Experience” “In my opinion from what I saw and heard, I would not recommend sending your kids there. Their beliefs are off the wall crazy and yes there is some violence with dorm kids. I do remember seeing guys and girls beaten and was told that it was just them fighting with other dorm kids.”
Burchette says his and another family finally packed up and left in the middle of the night without telling anyone.
“You can’t tell me that there isn’t something going on there,” he said. “Pastor Fletcher Brothers rode around with a security escort of about three to five guys everywhere he went. I made friends with his son when I was there and was at his house on numerous occasions. … This place isn’t a refuge for teens with issues, it’s a business that uses your kids for profit and whatever else they want them for.”
According to Freedom Village USA’s website, “Freedom Village and all it’s auxiliary ministries and off shoots were started by Dr. Fletcher A. Brothers and are dedicated to the foundational truth that Jesus Christ is the one and only hope for a broken life. Freedom Village is a completely “faith based ministry” and receives no government support from either the US or Canada.”
Rules include conservative dress for men and women and limited contact with the outside world.
“They (students) have to write a letter home every week and may call home one time a week,” their website reads. “After three months, students in good standing can begin to receive one weekend visit a month.”
Summers and holidays are also spent at the village although “at Christmas time, families send gifts along with many of our supporters,” reads Freedom Village USA’s website.
Students are accepted year round with an average cost of $4,700 a month, per student. Families are asked to “help however they are able to financially.” The ministry insists lack of funds is never “the deciding factor” for enrollment.
In a recent article published in The Post and Courier, the Charleston newspaper detailed a system of punishment used at Freedom Village known as “The Woodpile.”
“The woodpile looms large at Freedom Village,” the Post and Courier article reads. “It’s where students are punished for misdeeds like talking back, acting out or using the Lord’s name in vain. It’s where they go to walk for hours a day, carrying firewood in silence.
“Students on the woodpile are sent out in the evening, for a four-hour shift that doesn’t end until 10 o’clock, according to a written policy for corrective measures. Those with the worst punishments get up at 5 a.m. to carry firewood for an hour before other students wake up and go back to the wood pile in the afternoon for another two hours.
“The pastor’s son, Jeremy Brothers, who now runs much of the program day-to-day, described the punishment as ‘a reflection time that they can use to think about their actions or non-actions,’” the newspaper wrote.
In the meantime, the ministry is carrying on with their relocation plans to the complex in Sunset, a former childrens’ home located at 131 Victorious Valley Drive. It will have a new name as well: “Victory Village.”
The property has been reported by news outlets to be owned by the Florida based legal group National Center for Life and Liberty — which also provides legal services to Freedom Village.
However, as of April 16, the property is still listed as “for sale” by several Upstate real estate groups including Berkshire Hathaway Home Services and Century 21.
The asking price is $1,850,000.
