Our Family Values

Steven and Elissa’s carefully thought out plan for Ventures in Peace is anchored in a sense of family and warmth. The goal is to help create young adults who choose to live with personal integrity. To help nurture and develop that we provide a home away from home that teaches relationships, accountability, and trust as primary values. A place of clear boundaries, constant encouragement, consistent warmth, physical exercise, fresh air, hard work, healthy meals and the sense of achievement.

Everyone, including Steven and Elissa’s children Grace and Cairn, eat at least two meals a day together; healthy meals often supplied by our own organic garden. Mealtime is a time for touching base, taking the pulse of our “family” and feeling a sense of belonging. The emphasis is on home cooking, and everyone contributes. The food we use is 90% organic and the dishes range from gourmet pizza to fresh pasta with homemade tomato sauce to local bio-dynamic beef or vegetable soups/stews prepared from fresh stock and served with homemade scratch biscuits.

Meeting commitments to oneself and others as well as being trustworthy are the cornerstones of earning privilege; if a resident proves they can keep their word and do what they say they are going to do, then they can progressively earn the privilege to drive their own car, participate in community activities outside of Ventures in Peace, including having a job, playing team sports, or even having a dating relationship. Trust is the key and is integral to personal development and accomplishment, even after a resident leaves Ventures in Peace.

The concept of living with integrity is learned best in an environment rooted in strong, caring relationships. Our intention at Ventures in Peace is to remain a familial, relationship-based resource for families. Steven and Elissa’s children are a huge part of the day to day activities, and what we teach our children is in harmony with what we teach our “extended family”- the residents.

Ventures in Peace will always be highly personal, family based and never large. Everyone learns many of the most substantial lessons in life through how they conduct relationships. Healthy relationships are our most important teachers and, by definition, require healthy role models and mentors. That is our intention and what we aspire to provide at Ventures in Peace.