📚 In Rural Idaho, BFFs Transform A Greenhouse Into A Thriving Christian School 🔌
Weekend Plug-in 🔌
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NAPLES, Idaho — An eye-catching sign featuring a Christian school’s Rams mascot greets logging trucks along heavily traveled U.S. 95, about 40 miles south of the Canadian border.
Just off the highway, tamarack and ponderosa pine trees dot the landscape as K-12 students gather outside each morning to pray and recite the Pledge of Allegiance and the pledge of Foundations School.
“We pledge to serve God first in everything that we do, be a friend to people and live a life worthy of our calling,” the campus community vows.
While missionaries often move around the globe to fulfill their calling, Charli Turner, 48, found her mission field right here in rural North Idaho — at the site of a former greenhouse and garden center known as Moose Valley Farms.
“Our community has faced challenges — church scandals, splits and growing disinterest in faith — but we are committed to showing Christ to children and planting seeds of hope,” said Turner, founder and executive director of Foundations School.
The roadside sign of Foundations School catches drivers’ attention alongside U.S. 95 in Naples, Idaho. (Photo by Ephraim Rodenbach)
As she describes it, the Bible-based, trade-focused school equips students with practical skills and spiritual roots.
Launched three years ago with 18 students, the educational institution emphasizes individualized learning plans tailored to each child. The school has tripled in size to about 60.
A year after the K-12 opening, Turner persuaded Julie Montgomery, 44 — the founder’s longtime friend and fellow Christian — to relocate from Texas and serve as Foundations’ principal.
Five teachers, two fundraisers and a maintenance/security person join Turner and Montgomery on the staff.
“We believe the mission field in our own backyard is as vital, and often more personal, than distant fields,” Turner said, “as we witness generational trauma and dysfunction play out every day.”
Julie Montgomery and Charli Turner pose for a picture outside Foundations School in Naples, Idaho. (Photo by Ephraim Rodenbach)
• • •
THE RAMS MASCOT reflects the school’s location in Idaho’s northernmost Boundary County — bordered by Washington to the west, Montana to the east and the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north.
Indeed, Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep inhabit the area.
But for the faith-based institution, the symbol carries a deeper meaning.
“When you talk about Christian education, a lot of people have Lions or Eagles” as their mascot, Montgomery said. “We thought about Genesis 22.”
In that Bible chapter, Abraham demonstrates his faith by taking his son Isaac up a mountain to offer as a sacrifice. Instead, God provides a ram for the burnt offering.
Besides the spiritual application, Foundations adapted RAMS as an acronym for its “Right Attitudes Make Success” motto. The school also emblazoned “The Lord will provide” on its cross logo.
“Our kids all know the story of the ram,” Montgomery said, “and they are proud of its meaning.”
Students pray outside Foundations School in Naples, Idaho. (Photo provided by Foundations School)
• • •
TURNER GREW UP alongside Montgomery’s future husband, Levi, a friend of her family. Through that connection, the two women first met a quarter-century ago.
However, they didn’t become BFFs — best friends forever — until later when both lived in Montana and attended the Great Falls Church of Christ.
Shanlee, the youngest of Turner’s three biological children, was an infant at the time. She’s now 20.
Montgomery was pregnant with Brenna, the oldest of her three children. She’s now 19.
At the same time, Montgomery was caring for her mother, who was extremely ill and died nine months after her daughter’s arrival in Great Falls.
“Charli just kind of took me under her wings,” Montgomery said. “Just between the coffee dates and friendship and just raising our kids together, it was exactly what I needed at that moment.”
That’s when the two first discussed the idea of starting a school that could serve as a Christian mission.
“We had this funny vision that we were going to take in all the lost, hurting kids,” Turner said.
But life took them in different directions.
Turner spent eight years working for Mountain States Children’s Home in Longmont, Colorado.
Montgomery taught sixth-grade science and fifth-grade math in Texas before moving into school administration.
While Turner served as a housemother for teenage girls at Mountain States Children’s Home, Montgomery kept opening her own Bertram, Texas, home to little ones in need.
“Unofficially, I have a half-dozen bonus kids who were just friendly neighborhood kids who showed up and didn’t leave,” Montgomery said.
• • •
AS A CHILD, Turner moved often as her father’s work — including military service — meant frequent address changes.
Before turning 18, she lived in Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and Washington.
Turner attended her final two years of high school in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, the county seat of Boundary County. The summer after her 1996 graduation, she lived with a friend’s parents, Clint and Mary Kimball. The Kimballs later started Moose Valley Farms.
In 2016, a traumatic divorce caused Turner to leave Colorado. She returned to North Idaho.
“I knew I would be safe with my daughters, and this is where I came,” she said. “That’s it in a nutshell. … My son was finishing his senior year, and he moved here shortly after.”
Student handprints on a bell tower's foundation commemorate the launch of Foundations School in Naples, Idaho. (Photo by Ephraim Rodenbach)
In Bonners Ferry, Turner rebuilt her life and met her second husband, Lucas Turner.
Her journey to provide a faith-based educational outlet for area children began in 2020 amid COVID-19. She first started a daycare. Then — concerned about students struggling academically and emotionally after the pandemic — she saw a need for the school.
But finding a suitable location proved difficult.
“We felt like maybe God was shutting the doors,” she said, “and it wasn’t going to be a thing.”
Then Clint Kimball called.
“I heard you’re looking for a place to have school,” he said. “We’re trying to get Mrs. Mary to retire from the greenhouse. Maybe we could come up with a plan.”
They did.
• • •
IN SPRING 2023, the 10-acre property, about 10 miles south of Bonners Ferry, became the home of Foundations School and Turner Plumbing, owned by Lucas Turner.
The plumbing company operates in a separate building from Foundations and serves as the school’s main financial sponsor.
For three-plus years, Charli Turner has worked to retool and refurbish the former greenhouse and garden center into classrooms and other instructional space.
A banner near the entrance of Foundations School in Naples, Idaho, declares that “The Lord will provide” — a reference to Genesis 22. (Photo by Ephraim Rodenbach)
Moreover, the school is developing the Idaho Mercantile and 9Beans Coffee Co. at the plumbing building. The retail space will sell Idaho-made products and coffee.
Besides generating funds for the school, the mercantile will house a student nutrition program and provide a hands-on environment for culinary education, Charli Turner said. The “9B” refers to Idaho license plates, which use that designation for vehicles registered in Boundary County.
Along with its educational offerings, the school hosts a Lord’s Day worship gathering that has resulted in five baptisms in the Kootenai River.
“Our mission really is those people that have been rejected or are hurting,” Charli Turner said, “so we have about 35 coming out here on Sunday morning.”
• • •
AS TURNER DEVELOPED the school, she demonstrated multiple strengths — from a knack for organization to an ability to cast a compelling vision.
She lacked nuts-and-bolts expertise, though, in areas such as curriculum, grading and academic transcripts.
So she called Montgomery.
“Come run this school with me,” Turner urged her friend.
“Sister, I’m so proud of you,” Montgomery responded. “But I’m not doing it. I’m on a path here in Texas.”
But Turner kept calling.
A bell tower outside the front entrance of Foundations School in Naples, Idaho. (Photo by Ephraim Rodenbach)
After about a year, she told Montgomery, “It’s OK that you’re not coming. Why don’t you just travel up here and just give me some advice on the school?”
Montgomery agreed.
During that trip, the two friends enjoyed an outing on Brush Lake, close to the Canadian border.
“We’re out on kayaks,” Montgomery recalled, “and a bull moose walks out among the lily pads.”
Montgomery took the moose’s appearance as divine intervention. The message: She’d never experience such a view in Central Texas.
“I knew she was coming the whole time,” Turner said with a chuckle. “I was very persistent and very convincing. I needed her.”
• • •
FOUNDATIONS DRAWS students from as far as 30 to 40 miles away, all the way from Sandpoint — the seat of Bonner County, just south of Boundary County — to Canada.
The school serves a region known for its independent-minded, self-reliant approach to life. President Donald Trump overwhelmingly carried both counties in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 elections.
Besides learning reading, writing and arithmetic, students gain insight into potential trades — touring meat packing plants, granite shops, sawmills and other potential future employers.
Foundations has an annual tuition price of $6,000 per year but works to raise money to help families who can’t afford that amount. A few families receive assistance through Idaho’s $50 million Parental Choice Tax Credit.
“In North Idaho, spiritual roots often struggle to grow deep,” Charli Turner said. “We see this firsthand in the lives of the children we serve.”
These students include teens in need of rehabilitation and children whose parents battle addiction, she said. One boy’s father died of a fentanyl overdose. One sibling group’s father, hurt in a debilitating accident, has endured five surgeries.
In some cases, parents push children to enroll at Foundations. In others, relatives or community supporters nudge families to consider the faith-based option.
“Everybody here is like a mixed bag of nuts,” said Aspen Graham, a 17-year-old senior who drives her 2016 Mazda CX-5 about 20 miles each way to Foundations. “We get along really well, but we’re all just very different.”
Aspen Graham, 17, a student at Foundations School in Naples, Idaho, poses for a senior photo. (Photo provided by Aspen Graham)
After struggling at her public high school, Graham enrolled at Foundations a year and a half ago.
“I’m definitely like a social butterfly, and I’m kind of all over the place, so it was kind of hard to learn,” she said of her previous school.
With Foundations, Graham knew she was choosing a Christian school. But she was satisfied that participating — or not — in religious activities would be up to her.
“I used to not really be” a person of faith, she said. “Here, it was never shoved down my throat or anything. But like, I started being more interested in it. … And I did end up starting my own teen girls’ Bible study, just to understand it more with other girls my age and stuff. So I’m leaning more that way.”
Graham wore a cross necklace as she spoke.
Asked about it, she explained: “It’s new. I got it a few months ago. I never felt like I should actually be able to wear one until I was actually leaning that way. … I didn’t grow up with a family that really went to church or anything, so I’m kind of on my own path. … I didn’t want to be like a poser or anything.”
• • •
FOR BOTH Turner and Montgomery, Foundations School has become a family affair.
Turner’s son Payton Chaffin, 27, serves as director of fundraising, and his wife, Caitlin, is a school nutritionist. Daughter Cassidy McKee, 23, and her husband, Tim, an Army veteran, both teach classes.
Daughter Shanlee Chaffin works with the 9B Family Foundations daycare, which is associated with the school, while stepdaughter Anna Rae Turner, 15, is a Foundations student. Stepson Colton, 19, is an apprentice at Turner Plumbing.
Charli Turner, second from left, with daughter Cassidy McKee, daughter Shanlee Chaffin and son Payton Chaffin at Foundations School in Naples, Idaho. (Photo by Ephraim Rodenbach)
Montgomery’s sons, 17-year-old Colter and 14-year-old Sawyer, attend the school.
“Charli’s done such a fantastic job of putting this school together and recruiting very passionate, enthusiastic people, but we’re always looking for other partnerships,” Montgomery said.
They’d love to partner with churches and other Christian schools across the nation, she emphasized.
Foundations could provide “a mission opportunity where a student is coming and getting some teaching experience,” she said. “But maybe it’s a mission where the church is willing to pay half her salary to allow us to afford them.”
Montgomery attends the Boundary County Church of Christ in Bonners Ferry, where Wade Purdom preaches.
Principal Julie Montgomery speaks during an interview at Foundations School in Naples, Idaho. (Photo by Ephraim Rodenbach)
Purdom and his wife, Leah, homeschool their children, but he praised the positive change he’s seen in Foundations students he knows.
“It’s remarkable,” he said. “There’s not a lot of students, but they’re really pouring into each one of them, and it’s beautiful to see.”
Like her friend, Turner voiced a desire to involve more Christians in the domestic mission work.
“It’s like, who can come and help us?” she said. “Who can come and intern here? Who can come and get their student teaching out of the way and also pour into this community for a minute — and maybe fall in love and stay?”
Inside The Godbeat
After seven years of podcasting, Manya Brachear Pashman has returned to daily journalism as managing editor for the Forward.
“My great-grandfather Harry Greenfield took time every day to read the Forverts, a Yiddish-language daily newspaper distributed nationwide for a Jewish audience,” Pashman wrote on social media. “Little did Harry know that the Forverts would evolve into the Forward, the nation’s leading independent Jewish news outlet. And little did he know that his great-granddaughter would one day become the Managing Editor.”
Pashman covered religion for the Chicago Tribune from 2003 to 2018, establishing herself as one of the nation’s best Godbeat pros. She served as president of the Religion News Association from 2015 to 2018.
Manya Brachear Pashman, right, conducts a podcast interview in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2023. (Photo provided by Manya Brachear Pashman)
The Final Plug
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Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged and serves as editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 20 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.