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The sun finally shines on five garden plots in the front yard of the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Child + Family Center in Evanston.

The Rice Center is a residential treatment center for children between the ages of 6 and 16 who have experienced physical and sexual abuse and neglect so severe that they cannot thrive in a traditional foster home.

Here, they come out of the shadows. The children's summer culminated last week with a back-to-school barbecue that was open to the community.

The kids grow their own broccoli, peppers, tomatoes and learn healthy recipes for their produce at a weekly cooking class.

Almost all of the children are wards of the state and are receiving intensive therapy with the goal of uniting them with a permanent family. It is not uncommon for a child arriving at the Rice Center to equate himself to a "trash bag on the corner," according to Nancy Ronquillo, president and CEO of Children's Home & Aid, which operates the Rice Center.

"Often they've been through a dozen foster homes," she says. "They have been through the worst of the worst."

The Rice Center is the only program of its kind in the Chicago metropolitan area.

The process of growing and harvesting food from the gardens teaches the children about nurturing. Seeds of hope are planted.

"You give the gardens water, what do you get in return- " wonders Keith Polan, director of residential services at the Rice Center. "From a treatment perspective, we use nurturing as a metaphor all the time. The kids were excited when we planted the gardens. And a positive experience is where healing takes place for our kids."

Adds Rice Center volunteer Duchyll Joseph of Evanston: "The kids have been exposed to vegetables they've never seen. Our rule was, ‘You cooked it, you chopped it, you sliced it, why don't you taste it- ' They're anxious to let me know they have some [cooking] experience and that this is a warm experience for them.

"But for the barbecue, since I was the ‘Veg Ed' lady I said, ‘Not all hot dogs and coleslaw.' We had to have vegetables indicative of what we've been doing all summer."

Meat for the barbecue menu was donated by a Whole Foods store in Evanston. Every Tuesday, Tomato Mountain Farm near Madison, Wis. drops off goods they have been harvesting. Many of the vegetables for the cooking class are purchased from Stout Farms at the Ridgeville Farmers Market in Evanston.

Food is prepared in a newly renovated, 590-square-feet kitchen. About $23,000 of the $30,000 renovation fund was secured in a grant from the Illinois State Board of Education. The center was eligible for the funds because of its participation in the school lunch program.

"We're even changing our own institutional menu so there's more healthy foods for kids," Ronquillo says. "We're starting to incorporate life-long habits and skills."

Neglected and abused kids have been treated at this site at Ridge and Washington for 102 years. The barbecue in the courtyard of the three-story, 18-year-old red brick building was an effort to re-connect with the community.

Children are placed at the center though the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. According to Polan, 89 percent are wards of the state; the remaining kids are referred by the Department of Human Services or the Illinois State Board of Education. Most of the kids will be transitioned into the care of foster families within 18 months.

"About 50 to 60 percent are from the Cook County area," Polan says. "But we have kids from Rockford, Marion, all over the state. And one kid from Evanston."

That kid is Kyle Murphy. The 12-year-old has been in therapeutic schools for half his life.

"None of the schools seemed to be the right fit," says his 60-year-old father, Bob Carroll. "We went through medicines, the whole thing, and nothing was working. In some cases, it made the problems worse.

"We went through several hospitalizations. It's hard to find good therapeutic residential schools to help your child get home, which is what we want."

As an Evanston resident, Carroll knew of the Rice Center. "But my understanding was that they only [took] wards of the state," says Carroll, a retail merchandiser. "Through the school district, he was able to come here just for school. The positive, supportive approach they used worked.

"After three or four weeks, the school asked if we would consider him coming here on a residential program - which was my secret wish when he came in."

At the end of June, Kyle became a Rice resident.

"When he comes home for a visit, he wants to cook," his father says. "He told me they cooked eggplant and ate it - probably because they cooked it. What is the biggest thing in a church- The potluck dinner. What does a company do in the summer- They have a picnic. This brings people together."

Besides Kyle, Carroll and his partner Russell Elenz have another son, Keyon, 15, who attends Evanston High School.

The barbecue was spiced with moments of Carroll bonding with his sons. At one point, Carroll, sporting a red and white Hawaiian shirt, embraced Kyle, who wore a big smile despite his blue T-shirt that honored recently departed Chicago Cub Derrek Lee.

"You can't give up," Carroll later said. "There are residential homes that contain kids because people don't care. The reason you have a place like this is because people care. Our goal is to send him home. It's been a hard journey. But I know this is working."

A couple weeks ago, Kyle strolled off the Rice Center grounds to visit his parents.

He has discovered the fruits of home.