"And so, for the next twelve months, George Junior Republic became a form of refuge, a place where I could rest and recuperate, unmolested."

A quote in the memoir "Finding Fish" from which the movie "Antwone Fisher" is based, was discovered by employees of the residential treatment facility in Pine Township about a year ago.

Fisher, a former student, was at George Junior from June 1975 to June 1976 because "he had no where else to go," said Suzanne Vogel, director of development at the facility. "He was not placed here for any criminal charges.

Sometimes people don't realize that about 25 percent of our students placed here are here for non-criminal reasons. For some reason or other, they have no other place to go, whether they are orphans or wards of the courts."

Fisher was one of those students. According to his book published in 2001, his mother was in jail when he was born and his father was murdered before his birth.

Raised in foster care, the second foster home he lived in from age two until he was about 14, was where he received horrific abuse ranging from physical, verbal, emotional and sexual.

"The next thing I remember was being in my bedroom naked, tied by my arms to the end of the cot, and she was whipping me with a switch made from a thin green branch from a bush in the backyard. The whipping continued until welts popped up on my skin and began to open.

This was the day Mizz Pickett would brag about for years to come, the day when I was eight years old that she beat me unconscious," Fisher wrote in his autobiography.

Abuse of all kinds, though not necessarily as horrific as Fisher's, has happened to many of the students before their arrival at George Junior.

"I don't think a lot of people understand that 60 to 70 percent of our students here have suffered abuse of some sort. When the kids realize that they aren't alone, that they are not the only ones who have been through this, that they can succeed, it could have a tremendous impact," Mrs. Vogel said about Fisher's story.

The movie, which debuted in January and stars Denzel Washington as the Navy psychiatrist who helps Fisher deal with his abuse and turn his life around, will be shown at the 4 p.m. matinee showing at the Guthrie Theater on May 17 and 18.

The owner of the theater, Eric Thomas, will be giving some of the proceeds to George Junior, which will in turn, use them to support the facility's library fund.

"We felt it was appropriate to put it toward the library collection, since he (Fisher) is a poet and a screenwriter," Mrs. Vogel said, adding that he wrote the screenplay for the movie.

"But our objective is not to be raising money from this, but to give people a chance to view the film and raise community awareness about the kind of students that are placed out here. All the kids here have been placed here for different reasons. They're not all 'bad' boys."

The school is hoping to eventually have Fisher speak to the students to tell his story and set an example of survival and success. "I think it will give them inspiration," she said.

Or in the words of Fisher, referring to George Junior in his book, "The truth was that for a lot of kids, this place was a chance, maybe a last chance, to make something better of their lives before adulthood was upon them," he wrote. "The George Junior philosophy was: 'It's up to you.'"

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Sherris Moreira-Byers at sbyers@sharonherald.com

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