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By Nicole Saidi and Christina Zdanowicz, CNN
(CNN)—He fled a“nightmare”childhood for the uncertainty of foster care, maneuvered through several years behind bars and a jail break that turned him into a fugitive, and steeped much of his free time in alcohol. Mike Stouffer is now sober and involved in restorative justice programs 1 that help teenage offenders. He has exchanged letters with President Obama and received a personal response.
Stories of charity and goodwill are commonplace during the holidays, but less often do you hear what it's like to receive those good deeds.
The Wausau, Wisconsin, resident credits his turnaround to his now-retired social worker of almost 40 years, Dale Herrick.
“I knew you could, Mike,”Herrick said.“I was proud of the decisions he made. I guess he became more straightforward with me. He's still one of my‘kids.’”
Herrick said Stouffer was clearly a smart guy, and figured he just had to realize he didn't need to stay in survival mode. He compares the situation to playing a slot machine: Keep adding nickels and have faith. Herrick says he doesn't care who inserts the coins,“as long as [Stouffer] hits the jackpot.” 2
Stouffer is now a regular CNN iReport 3 contributor who shares positive community stories. Under the screenname“WausauFamily,”Mike and his wife have submitted more than 100 iReports, often on events in and around their city.
Volunteerism, social events and nature photography are some of their favorite subjects to report on.“I simply share life through my lens and thoughts,”he says in his iReport profile.
He also wrote a letter to President Obama and received a personal reply that he later shared on iReport. Recently, he invited Don Ryder, recipient of the 2009 National Peace Award, over for dinner and then church. Ryder, also a Wausau resident, is an advocate for prisoner's rights who received the award for his role in bringing clean drinking water to the Masai people in Kenya.
In the spirit of giving back to the community Stouffer harmed in his formative years, he works with troubled 12-to 19-year-olds in restorative justice programs. He says he asks for the“worst”cases in so he can have maximum impact.
Stouffer encourages teen offenders to talk to their victims and speaks in schools. Herrick's work inspired this effort.
“Everybody else has given up on these kids. I want to be the one who says,‘I won't give up on you.’”
During his childhood, he says trouble at home led Stouffer to be a hell-raiser at school who ran away and got into fights. Herrick, then a rookie social worker, was assigned to help the troubled boy find foster homes. Stouffer was only 12 years old when the pair met, but he always appreciated Herrick's persistence in the face of Stouffer's“defensive wall.”
“I remember, to this day, how much faith and trust I had in Dale,”Stouffer said.“I didn't want to show him these things because I was used to disappointment and rejection. I played the tough kid role and acted like it didn't matter. It did, though.”
Stouffer says he ran away at 14 in hopes of finding his mother. He hopped on a bus and wound up scared and lost in Chicago, Illinois. Herrick was the person he called for help.
Herrick calmed him down over the phone and drove to the next state to retrieve him. He asked the teen to trust him and talk about his feelings as they drove home.
“I think we've kind of become friends in many ways,”Herrick said.“I'm kind of a parent to him, kind of a mentor to him.”
Stouffer continued to make trouble and went to several juvenile detention institutions. A botched escape attempt got him solitary confinement until his release at age 18.
He was arrested for armed robbery while concealed—he was wearing a ski mask—in 1979 at age 19.
While being held in county jail in Wisconsin, he and other inmates staged an escape by gradually chipping at the wall. The orange-jumpsuited Stouffer became a fugitive. TV and radio announcements warned the public of an“armed and dangerous”escapee.
Stouffer frantically called Herrick a couple of nights later from Salt Lake City, Utah. The grapevine was buzzing about the break. 4
“Hey Mike, come on, let's do some thinking,”the social worker recalls saying, adding that he was obligated to report their conversation to authorities. Stouffer got scared and hung up.
Herrick says he felt the best thing to do was keep his door open in case Stouffer needed him and just encourage him to keep thinking and making the right decisions. They didn't always agree, but Stouffer says he benefited from his social worker friend's nonjudgmental approach.
A couple more years passed. Stouffer met a woman and had a son with her, but soon found himself a single parent and fugitive all at once. He decided his wild lifestyle could be harmful, so he put his son in foster care and turned himself in.
He was placed in medium—and maximum—security facilities to serve his 10-year sentence. One was the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin, which has housed notorious inmates such as cannibalistic serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
After being granted parole twice and having it revoked, he finally got out of jail in 1991. 5 He was able to secure equipment to become a tattoo artist. He had learned about it underground in prison and figured it would be better for him than an office job. He pursued the field as his own family business and kept writing.
A major turning point in his life was when he met his wife, Bobbi, while making a bet at a pool hall.
He gave her his number and Bobbi called the next day. They've been together since. Mike Stouffer credits Bobbi, and his children, with encouraging him to stop drinking. He decided he wouldn't marry Bobbi until he was sober, and says he has been since May 2001.
Bobbi Stouffer says she was uneasy about dating her future husband, but his straightforwardness won her over. Mike Stouffer says he isn't sure what she saw in him. Bobbi says sticking with him was the best decision she ever made.
“He tends to see things way out of the box from other people. 6 I don't know if that is because of how he grew up or the trials he went through, but he tends to see life through a different lens. The smallest things in life are really a joy and a gift.”
Some of Stouffer's volunteer work rocketed him into his past when he went through one of his old cell blocks by chance. Time stood still after 20 years, and he recognized some of the faces.
This year, he took an inmate to community social club for Thanksgiving dinner.
Herrick says Mike Stouffer is doing important work with troubled youth who need to see other options in life. Herrick also applauds Stouffer for walking away from his old people and places.“There's a saying: If you spend enough time in a barbershop, you will get a haircut,” 7 the social worker said.
Mike Stouffer says he can't thank Herrick enough for his willingness to keep putting nickels in the machine even when the jackpots weren't coming easy.
“Social workers, the next time you are questioning whether your work matters, believe that it does. [Herrick] never judged me or was mean. His voice was the only compassionate sound I heard during some of my darkest and confusing hours of my young life.”
1. restorative justice programs恢复性司法项目：主要是指受害方与犯罪方达成和解，恢复正常社会秩序，从而免于追究司法责任。在欧美一般适用于较轻的犯罪。
2. He compares the situation to playing a slot machine: Keep adding nickels and have faith. Herrick says he doesn't care who inserts the coins,“as long as [Stouffer] hits the jackpot.”此处比喻让一个人改邪归正就如玩老虎机，不断地投硬币并有信心的话就会中大奖。
3. iReport是CNN旗下一个关注市民新闻的网站。iReport着眼于那些对热点话题感兴趣的撰稿人，移动设备上的客户端可以让撰稿人对事件现场发表评论。当用户注册iReport后，可以浏览他们感兴趣的话题，如政治、健康、旅行、美食等，或向其投稿。
4. The grapevine was buzzing about the break. 小道消息全是关于越狱的报道。
5. After being granted parole twice and having it revoked, he finally got out of jail in 1991. 他虽然获得了两次假释出狱机会，但均被取消，最终于1991年刑满释放。
6. He tends to see things way out of the box from other people. 他看人的眼光和角度非常独到。
7. “There's a saying: If you spend enough time in a barbershop, you will get a haircut,”在理发店待久了自然想剪剪头发。比喻环境对一个人的影响。
续表
Steer sb. toward restored life 引导……改邪归正
maneuver through years behind bars 艰难度过服刑时期
steep time in alcohol 买醉过日
teenage offenders 青少年犯罪
credit…to… 把……归功于……
turnaround 改过自新，彻底改变
social worker 社工
stay in survival mode 活着只为生存
have maximum impact 最大的影响
be a hell-raiser at school 学校的捣蛋鬼
get into fights 打架斗殴
wind（过去式wound）up… 结果是……
juvenile detention institutions 青少年犯罪拘留机构
a botched escape attempt 逃跑未遂
armed robbery 持枪抢劫
nonjudgmental approach 无偏见、非评判的方式
wild lifestyle 无节制的生活方式
secure equipment 得到工具
win sb. over 争取到了……；赢得了某人的心
rocket sb. into the past 把某人一下子带回了过去
see other options in life 看到人生中的其他选择
sth. comes easy ……容易得到
1. Who is Mike Stouffer?
2. Whom does Mike Stouffer credit his turnaround to?
3. What is Mike Stouffer's contribution to CNN iReport?
4. What was Mike Stouffer's life like before 18?
5. Before Mike Stouffer turned himself in, what did he do?
6. After Mike Stouffer got out of jail in 1991, what happened to his life?
7. How does Mike Stouffer's present wife think about his husband?
8. How did Dale Herrick help Mike Stouffer in different cases? What was Dale's working approach like?
9. What can contribute the turnaround of a person who has served jail time?
10. What is the role of a social worker for the troubled youth?
1. What is the significance of social work for a society?
2. What is the importance of social work for an individual?
He fled a“nightmare”childhood for the uncertainty of foster care, maneuvered through several years behind bars and a jail break that turned him into a fugitive, and steeped much of his free time in alcohol. Mike Stouffer is now sober and involved in restorative justice programs that help teenage offenders. He has exchanged letters with President Obama and received a personal response.
1. 尽管史道夫早年曾在社区里胡作非为，现在他怀着回报社区的心情，致力于帮助被纳入恢复性司法项目里的12～19岁的问题青少年。
2. 家里的问题让史道夫成为学校里的捣蛋鬼，经常逃课或者打架。
3. 赫里克在电话里安抚他，并开车去另外一个州去接他回来。
4. 我不知道是否是因为他的成长经历或他所经历的监狱生活，他看待生活的角度总是与众不同。
5. 在我年轻的那些最黑暗和最困惑的时间里，他的声音是我唯一听到的充满关爱的声音。
A. by chance
B. received…for
C. was assigned to
D. survival mode
E. in case
F. in prison
G. applauds…for
H. was obligated to
I. foster care
J. credits…to
1. The Wausau, Wisconsin, resident________his turnaround________his now-retired social worker of almost 40 years, Dale Herrick.
2. Herrick said Stouffer was clearly a smart guy, and figured he just had to realize he didn't need to stay in__________________.
3. Ryder, also a Wausau resident, is an advocate for prisoner's rights who_______the award_______his role in bringing clean drinking water to the Masai people in Kenya.
4. Herrick, then a rookie social worker, ________help the troubled boy find foster homes.
5.“Hey Mike, come on, let's do some thinking,”the social worker recalls saying, adding that he____________________report their conversation to authorities.
6. Herrick says he felt the best thing to do was keep his door open________Stouffer needed him and just encourage him to keep thinking and making the right decisions.
7. He decided his wild lifestyle could be harmful, so he put his son in_______and turned himself in.
8. He had learned about it underground_______and figured it would be better for him than an office job.
9. Some of Stouffer's volunteer work rocketed him into his past when he went through one of his old cell blocks____________________.
10. Herrick also_______Stouffer_______walking away from his old people and places.