Citizens Bank to Match Donations to Ranch Giving Tuesday
11/18/2025

What is Giving Tuesday?

After Thanksgiving, #BlackFriday and #CyberMonday each year, we celebrate #GivingTuesday. This special day helps demonstrate that holidays can be about both giving and giving back.

This year, Citizens Bank will once again be matching gifts to the Ranch on Giving Tuesday. For every dollar donated to the ASYR on December 2nd, Citizens Bank will match contributions up to the first $5,000!

Here are some ways YOU can help ASYR receive the entire $5,000 matching gift from Citizens Bank on Giving Tuesday:

  1. Make an online donation by clicking here. 
  2. Drop your donation by any Citizens Bank location. We’ll be celebrating Giving Tuesday with Citizens Bank and White River Now at Citizens Bank Headquarters, located at 655 South Saint Louis Street in Batesville from 9am-5pm Tuesday, December 2nd. Join us for a hotdog at lunchtime, or drop your gift by any convenient Citizens Bank location.
  3. Help us get the word out about Citizens Bank’s $5,000 matching gift! Share this page with a friend by email, text, or social media, and ask them to join you in supporting the Ranch on Giving Tuesday.
  4. Follow @YouthRanches for social media updates on Facebook and Instagram and share our posts with your friends.
  5. Visit our ways to help page or contact Matthew Cleveland at 501-940-3440 or matt@youthranches.com to learn about other ways to give or to make an additional matching gift.

Since 1976, the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches have provided hope and healing for children who, through no fault of their own, need a place to call home. Your gift to the ASYR on Giving Tuesday supports our mission of providing homes for some of Arkansas’s most vulnerable children. To learn more about how you can support the ASYR, contact Matthew Cleveland at 501-940-3440 or email matt@youthranches.com.

As a 501c3 charitable organization that is 100% privately funded, and a 100% free service to children in crisis, Giving Tuesday is such an important day for us at the ASYR. Please join us December 2nd for Giving Tuesday, and consider making the Ranch part of your year-end giving plans.

Give a Child the Gift of Hope

Become a Hope Builder with a monthly contribution. For the cost of a fast food meal, you can help change a child’s life. 

A contribution for as little as $10 per month can help provide for things like:
•  New shoes for our boys and girls
•  An allowance for a child
•  Caps and gowns for our graduates
•  Birthday gifts for our children
•  Groceries for our cottages
•  Feed for goats, pigs, and other animals on the Ranch
•  Salary for our loving houseparents

Become a Hope Builder by committing to a monthly contribution. It’s a simple, secure way to provide consistent support to the ASYR all year long. Click here to support today!

 

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSOR:
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Many thanks to Citizens Bank for providing the matching gift to encourage giving on Giving Tuesday! We are so grateful for their continued support as we strive to build better lives for children who call the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches home.

Thank you to White River Now for being our media partner for Giving Tuesday. Tune in to White River Now’s family of radio stations on December 2nd for live broadcasts throughout the day!

30th Annual Arkansas Children’s Award Dinner Record-Breaking Success!
11/03/2025

Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches celebrated a landmark moment Wednesday, October 29, hosting its 30th Annual Arkansas Children’s Award Dinner, honoring business leader and philanthropist Rush Harding, and raising a record-breaking $355,000 to continue its mission of providing safe and loving homes for Arkansas children in need.

The event drew more than 600 ASYR supporters to the Grand Ballroom at the Little Rock Marriott Hotel. Guests enjoyed a reception, dinner, silent and live auction, and the award presentation. Longtime ASYR supporter and former Arkansas Razorback David Bazzel, and voice of Morning Mayhem on 103.7 The BUZZ, served as master of ceremonies. Presenting sponsor for the event was Cache Restaurant, and diamond sponsors were Rush Hal Development, the Schueck Family Foundation, and Stone Ward.

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Arkansas Children’s Award to Harding, a Clarendon native, whose decades of generosity have impacted communities across the state. Harding and his wife, Linda, have opened countless doors for Arkansas children to learn, grow, and succeed, perfectly embodying the heart and mission of ASYR.

One of the most powerful moments of the dinner came when Meira, a ninth grader and current resident of the Ranch, shared her story. “At the Ranch, I’ve learned who I am. I’ve learned to care for others, to lead, to believe in myself, and to love who I am, inside and out,” said Meira. “Today, I stand here as someone who’s not broken, but rebuilt. Someone who believes in herself. Someone who’s ready to keep growing, to go to college–hopefully at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA)–and to one day help other children who’ve gone through what I have. Because if my story can prove anything, it’s that no matter how hard life starts out, it doesn’t have to end that way.” You can watch Meira tell her story on our YouTube channel here.

Inspired by her words, Harding, a proud UCA alumnus and supporter, surprised guests by announcing he would cover Meira’s tuition, fees, and housing to ensure her education is covered following high school.

“For three decades, this event has highlighted the power of Arkansans who step up for children in need,” said Nancy Fulton, CEO of the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches. “This year, we celebrate Rush while also celebrating every child whose future is brighter because of the Ranch.”

The Ranch is 100 percent privately funded, and with generous support from the community, it supplies all the needs associated with raising a child, from finding loving houseparents to providing safe shelter, medical care, healthy food, clothing, and educational expenses. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to the mission of the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches.

Watch our 30th annual Arkansas Children’s Award Dinner via YouTube:

Check out photos from the Dinner at our Facebook page:

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

MANY THANKS! to our generous sponsors for helping us honor Rush Harding for his big-hearted generosity and for making our 30th annual Arkansas Children’s Award Dinner a record-breaking success for the boys and girls who call the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches, “home.”