Celebrating 40 Years of Providing Homes
02/18/2016

This year, the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches celebrates its 40^th Anniversary. For 40 years, the Ranches have provided homes for boys and girls who have been abandoned, abused, and neglected.

When the sheriffs of Arkansas founded the Ranches in 1976, they saw a need for children who were being overlooked and falling through the cracks. These children had no good options for a home life and no one to turn to. So sheriffs, with the help of individuals in their communities, raised support to build a home for boys to begin meeting that need.

Since then, the Ranches have grown and have given more than 1,300 boys and girls from every corner of the state a place to call home. But the need for homes for Arkansas’s foster care children has never been greater.

Last August, Governor Asa Hutchinson declared that the Arkansas foster care system was in a state of crisis. There simply are not enough foster homes in the state to house the 7,698 children who entered the Arkansas foster care system last year.

But YOU can help. At the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches we are giving Arkansas foster care children a place to call home. A place where they can still live with their brothers and sisters, even after a parent has failed them. A place to build a brighter future, for as long as they need to stay. A place to learn to trust again and be part of a family. For the very first time in many of their lives, these children are not just surviving – they are thriving!

YOU make that home possible with every gift you give to the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches. Thanks to YOU, when a child comes to the Ranches, home is exactly what they experience. Because when we say “home,” we don’t mean a bed in a dormitory with a cafeteria style meal. The boys and girls who live at the Ranches stay in a real home with houseparents who love and care for them like their own children. They stay in a house with seven other children who come from similar situations and have experienced the many of the same things they have.

Another aspect that makes the Ranches unique are the fact that we are a real working ranch. At our Batesville campus, our Ranch boys and girls are helping raise a registered Hereford beef herd. The boys and girls love being able to work with these gentle cows, and raising the cattle is giving our children educational, real world experience. It teaches discipline, self-sustainability, and respect for the animals as well as a day’s work.

For 40 years, YOU have helped make the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches the organization it is with your support of our mission. And for that, we cannot thank you enough! But we need YOUR continued help to care for the children who will need a place to call home in our next 40 years.

Will you join us today by making a gift? Please consider how YOU can provide homes for even more of Arkansas’s foster care children with a gift to the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches.

Thank you for your compassion and your consideration.

Gratefully yours,

Nancy Weaver, CEO
Arkansas Sheriffs Youth Ranches

P.S. Our houseparents hear many heartbreaking stories from our boys and girls. But hearing the words “thank you” from a child melts their hearts and gives them hope to continue on! YOU make that possible with every gift you make to the Ranches.

YOU can become a Hope Builder with a monthly gift to the Ranches. It’s an easy and secure way that YOU can show your commitment to caring for Arkansas foster care children. Click here to make your gift today.