An era ends at Girls and Boys Town

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- While serving in Iraq last year, young Marine Sgt. Eric Eggink wrote in gratitude to the Rev. Val Peter, president and chief executive of Girls and Boys Town.

"Thanks to the skills I learned at Girls and Boys Town, I'm able to lead others and teach these men how to handle battle," wrote Sgt. Eggink, who graduated in May 2001 after arriving at the institution in 1997, at age 15.

Now Sgt. Eggink is back safe in Omaha and can't believe that Father Peter is stepping down as the leader at the campus that was once called Father Flanagan's Boys' Home.

"It's his life," Sgt. Eggink said. "He's the guy who makes things happen."

Father Peter's been making things happen -- expanding and diversifying the institution -- since he took over in 1985. Under his stewardship, Girls and Boys Town has grown to 19 sites in 15 states and the District of Columbia.

While in the public imagination, Girls and Boys Town is primarily thought of as an orphanage, most of the troubled young people living on its campus have been referred by families or social service agencies.

It also has a national, toll-free crisis and referral hot line for children and parents. Assets include a research hospital in Omaha, a national resource and training center and a publishing arm, Boys Town Press.

While the organization is battling four sex-abuse lawsuits and has occasionally clashed with the local Roman Catholic bishop, its literature says 43,654 children received direct "help, healing and hope" from Girls and Boys Town services last year.

In addition to the task of overseeing the 500-plus children and all the staffers at the Omaha campus, Father Peter has acted as an unofficial pastor to the national parish created by Girls and Boys Town.

Father Peter teaches and preaches moral absolutes and the famed "Boys Town model," which comes from university research into "behavior-shaping models," stressing self-discipline and respect.