Double Your Gift on #GivingTuesday, November 29
11/01/2016

After Thanksgiving, #BlackFriday and #CyberMonday, we celebrate #GivingTuesday! This year’s #GivingTuesday will be on November 29, 2016. This special day shows that holidays can be about both giving and giving back.

And this year, Citizens Bank is giving back in a big way! For every dollar you donate to the Ranches, Citizens Bank will match your gift dollar for dollar up to $5,000!

Only on #GivingTuesday, you can double the impact of your gift to the ASYR by making an online donation or by dropping your gift by at any Citizens Bank location.

Here are four ways YOU can help the Ranches receive the entire $5,000 matching gift from Citizens Bank on #GivingTuesday: 

1. Set a calendar reminder to make an online donation or drop your donation by any Citizens Bank location on Tuesday, November 29th.
2. Help us get the word out about our #GivingTuesday need and Citizens Bank’s $5,000 matching gift! Share this page with a friend via email, text, or social media, and ask them to join you in making a gift.
3. Follow the ASYR for social media updates on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and share them with your friends. Don’t forget to follow us at @YouthRanches!
4. Tag your updates with #GivingTuesdayAR to join the conversation on this special day of giving!

Become a Hope Builder for our boys and girls with a monthly donation. Did you know that a contribution of just $25 per month can provide:

•  New shoes for up to six of our boys and girls
•  A monthly allowance for one child
•  Caps and gowns for all of our graduates
•  Birthday gifts for 12 children
•  Feed for our Rancher’s horses for one month

Become a Hope Builder today by clicking here!

Shop Amazon Smile and Support the Ranches!
10/25/2016

There are a lot of ways you can support the Ranches by giving, but here’s a way that you can support by doing something you probably already going to do this Holiday Season: shop online!

Whether it’s on #BlackFriday, #CyberMonday, or any day of the year, use Amazon.com’s Amazon Smile program, and the online retailer will donate .5% of your Amazon purchases to benefit the boys and girls at the Ranches!

All you need to do is visit Amazon Smile and select the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches as the charity you would like to support, and .5% of your future purchases will benefit the Ranches. It’s an easy way to help raise funds for the Ranches doing something you already do!

40 Years of Hope and Homes
10/10/2016

Join us at the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches’ Batesville campus on Saturday, October 22nd at 5:00 to celebrate 40 years of providing Hope and Homes for some of Arkansas’s most deserving boys and girls!

The Ranches will be grilling burgers using ASYR’s own grass-fed beef and blowing out candles on its 40th birthday cake! The community is invited to come out for a birthday party to celebrate the Ranches’ 40th anniversary. Join current and former Ranchers, Ranch board members, sheriffs, and supporters from across the state.

Please RSVP by emailing matt@youthranches.com or call or text 501-940-3440.

If you cannot attend, consider making a birthday gift in honor of the Ranches 40th Anniversary!

YOU can help Ranch boys and girls succeed in school
08/01/2016

As the summer winds down, the boys and girls who live at the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches are soaking up the sunlight and enjoying swimming, fishing, and riding their bikes around our beautiful campuses. They have also been busy caring for our cattle and working in the fields to earn some extra spending money for the fall. Soon, our Ranchers will begin preparing for the new school year.

Back-to-school is an exciting time at the Ranches with fresh haircuts and shopping for new school clothes. You can only imagine the number of backpacks, notebooks, pens, pencils, paper, and crayons our children go through in a school year!

In 2015, the National Retail Federation estimated that families with school-age children spent an average of $630.36 on clothes, shoes, and school supplies. Because the Ranches are more than 90% funded through donations from friends like you, we work very hard to be good stewards of our resources. We are able to keep the cost of sending one of our Ranchers to school at just $285.00, less than half of that national average! But when you are working to outfit all of our Ranchers for school, that amount can quickly add up. That’s why we need YOUR help!

With YOUR support, we will see lives changed this school year.

•We will see children succeed in school for the first time in their life because they are not worrying about where their next meal will come from.

•We will see children not live in fear of riding a school bus home because they may be abused by a loved one when they get there.

•We will see children go back to school with confidence because they have their first ever pair of new shoes that fit them.

•We will see children’s eyes light up when they receive their very first new backpack.

YOUR gift today shows that you believe every child deserves a home where they can feel safe, secure, and loved. It shows that you believe every child deserves a home where they don’t have to go to bed hungry at night. It shows that you believe every child deserves a chance to succeed in school and receive a quality education.

YOU give our boys and girls that chance. YOU give them that kind of home. The Ranches have been home to more than 1,300 boys and girls for 40 years, thanks to friends like YOU! And to continue to provide Arkansas children with a safe, healthy, and loving home, we need your help.

YOU can help outfit one or more of our children for school with a tax deductible gift to the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches.

Sending a child to school can be expensive, especially when you have as many as we do! However, the reward of seeing boys and girls learn and grow and succeed in their classes is far greater.

We know that a quality education is one of the best ways we can prepare our boys and girls for life after they leave the Ranch. Education is also the key to breaking the cycle of abuse and neglect that has plagued so many of our children’s lives.

This May, we saw one of our young women graduate from high school. For many of our boys and girls, graduating high school and going to college seemed an impossible dream. But that was before coming to the Ranch. Now that they are here, YOUR support makes that dream a reality. Because YOU make the Ranches possible, some of these children will be the first in their family to graduate from high school, and many will go on to attend college.

With our Ranchers going back to school in August, we need your generous support now more than ever. To you, your gift may seem like only a small monthly or annual contribution. But to our boys and girls, YOU are changing their lives and making their dreams come true. We are truly very grateful for your investment in these young, deserving lives.

What would YOU be willing to give to see Ranch boys and girls succeed in school this year?

Even though back-to-school is a busy and expensive time at the Ranches, we need your help all year long! Please consider becoming a Hope Builder by making your gift a monthly contribution. By becoming a Hope Builder, we will automatically process your gift each month with a debit or credit card. It is a safe and simple way to support the children at the Ranches. Just click here to set up your monthly gift today!

ASYR Barn Raising: We Need YOUR Help!
07/12/2016

You know that we are called the Arkansas SHERIFFS’ Youth Ranches because we were founded by the sheriffs. But have you ever wondered why the word RANCHES is in our name?

One aspect that makes our program different from any other in the state is 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 cattle is also giving them educational, real world experience. It teaches discipline, responsibility, safety, respect for animals, and the importance of an honest day’s work. We also provide healthy meals to our Ranchers using our 100% grass-fed beef!

As you can see, our cattle program plays an incredibly important role in the Ranches’ mission. It allows the ASYR to be more self-sustaining to provide food for our children, but it also creates additional revenue from the sale of our cattle and beef products that we invest back into our mission.

Right now, the ASYR cattle program is in desperate need of a new hay barn. With our registered Hereford herd almost doubling in size over the last two years, we need more storage for hay. Our cows have plenty of pastures to graze during the warmer months. But during the harsh winter months, we rely on hay that we cut in our pastures to supplement our cows’ diet. We need to build a new covered barn to keep our hay out of the weather and fresh for our cows.

But to raise a new barn, we need YOUR help!

Because the ASYR is almost entirely funded through donations, every new project at the Ranches are funded by support from friends like YOU.

The cost for a new hay barn is $15,000, and once the funds are raised, our builders can have a new barn raised in two days! YOU can help us meet this urgent need by supporting our Barn Raising campaign by clicking here. 

YOU make a difference in the lives of the boys and girls who call the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches “home.” YOU can help us raise a barn to meet this urgent need and strengthen the Ranches’ life-changing program. Please consider a gift today.

Springtime at the Ranches
05/12/2016

Spring is one of our favorite times of the year at the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches. The cold months are past, and our campuses are budding with new life in many different ways. Our pastures and trees are turning green, flowers are blooming, and new calves are being born at our Batesville campus. Our boys and girls are finishing up their school year and are hopefully anticipating summer break and spending more time outdoors. Spring is a time of beauty and hope at the Ranches.

This year, as we celebrate our 40th Anniversary, we are thankful for friends like YOU. YOU have made the Ranches a place of hope and new life for more than 1,300 boys and girls. YOU have given these children a safe, healthy and loving place to call home. YOU are helping more brothers and sisters stay together at the Ranches. And with your continued support we will continue to give new life to many more children in the years to come.

I hope you will take a moment this spring to think about those who have made a difference in your life. I also hope you will consider remembering them by making an honor or memorial gift to the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches. These special gifts can be made for any occasion to say “thank you” for making a difference in your life.

You can make a gift right on our website and an email will be sent immediately to the recipient of your honor or memorial gift. If you don’t have that person’s email address, we will send an acknowledgment card via postal mail to notify the individual that you have made a gift in their honor. If you want to remember a loved one with a memorial gift, we will send a card on your behalf to the family of the deceased.

Even if you choose not to make an honor/memorial gift, you can still give the gift of hope to a child with a monthly Hope Builder gift.

•  Your gift of $25 may not seem like much, but at the Ranches your gift becomes a monthly allowance that will teach a child financial responsibility.
•  A monthly gift of $50 becomes school supplies for 12 children who are succeeding in school for the first time.
•  Even a monthly gift of just $10 can buy two children can get a new pair of shoes that aren’t hand-me-downs, maybe their first new pair of shoes in their life!

When you join other Hope Builders by making a monthly gift, you are helping to build lives of hope for children who had none.

For 40 years, the Ranches have been giving Arkansas boys and girls hope and a place to call home thanks to gifts from individuals like you. In fact, more than 90% of our operations are funded through individual donations. But it takes consistent support to make a difference in the lives of the many boys and girls who call our Ranches home. Your gift this spring will have an immediate impact on the lives of the children we care for. Please join us in giving new life to these deserving children, and help us build hopeful lives for generations of children.

THANK YOU for Giving during ArkansasGives!
04/08/2016

April 7 was a HUGE day for nonprofits and donors alike in Arkansas thanks to ArkansasGives, a statewide day of giving organized in partnership by the Arkansas Community Foundation and the Arkansas Nonprofit Alliance. The results are in, and semi-final numbers show that in just 12 hours, 14,882 donors gave a total of $4,077,884 to participating Arkansas nonprofits!

The Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches were among the nearly 600 participating nonprofit organizations in Thursday’s ArkansasGives and by the end of the day had raised $25,862 from 110 donors! According to ArkansasGives’ website, the Ranches raised more gifts and more total dollars than any other organization in the North East Region of the state.

“I think the success of ASYR’s ArkansasGives campaign is thanks in part to a generous $5,000 matching gift from the Morris Foundation, which encouraged early gifts by showing our donors that they could double the impact of their support with a gift,” said ASYR Chief Development Officer Matt Cleveland. “That along with the sheer number of Ranch supporters who responded by opening their hearts and sharing their gifts helped the Ranches pull ahead in both categories for our region.”

“We are so grateful for the outpouring of support we felt during ‪‎ArkansasGives‬,” said ASYR CEO Nancy Weaver. “From supporters who have been behind us for years offering matching support to individuals who are discovering the good work of the Ranches for the first time through ArkansasGives, thank you! Your gift allows the Ranches to meet the needs of some of Arkansas’s most deserving boys and girls, and we could not do this good work without you!”

“Arkansas consistently ranks in the top 5 to 10 states in per-capita giving,” Cleveland said. “ArkansasGives is another great example our state’s generosity. When Arkansans come together and are well organized and inspired by vision to do good work, we can impact our state in a big way!”

The Ranches wish to thank everyone who took part in ArkansasGives by making a gift and helping spread the word about the Ranches. We also thank the Morris Foundation and the Ross Foundation for their matching gifts that encouraged participation and multiplying the impact of giving on this special day. We also thank the Arkansas Community Foundation and the Arkansas Nonprofit Alliance for their leadership in organizing this event so well for the second year. The Ranches are more than 90% privately funded through donations, so days like ArkansasGives are such great opportunities for the Ranches to rally its supporters behind a giving opportunity that feels great to be a part of.

MANY THANKS from all of us at the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches!

ArkansasGives is TODAY and we need YOUR help!
04/07/2016

ArkansasGives is TODAY, and we need YOUR help! Today only: the Morris Foundation is matching dollar-for-dollar every donation made to the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches through ArkansasGives up to $5,000. And the Ross Foundation will also match the first $500!

That means the first $500 donated actually equals $1,500! That’s a month’s worth of food for two of our houses!

And after that, every $25 = $50…or a monthly allowance for two children to learn financial responsibility. Every $150 = $300…or school supplies for six children who are succeeding in school for the first time. And every $1,000 = $2,000…or fuel to transport children to visit family members in other parts of the state.

That is HUGE when you’re raising 35 children!

But we can’t do it without:

1. YOU
2. making a gift through the ArkansasGives website
3. via credit card
4. TODAY only between 8:00 am and 8:00 pm

Together, we can grow the love and meet a HUGE need, providing homes for Arkansas boys and girls.

 GIVE YOUR GIFT NOW!

There’s no better time than ArkansasGives to make a gift to the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches. In fact, your gift today more than doubles because even after it’s matched, it helps the Ranches earn bonus dollars from a $400,000 bonus pool provided by the Arkansas Community Foundation. The more we raise, the more bonus dollars we receive! Not to mention, your gifts also help the Ranches compete for additional cash prizes throughout the day!

As always, your gift to the Ranches allows us to care for Arkansas boys and girls who simply need a safe, loving place to call home. For 40 years, we’ve been home to more than 1,300 deserving children. The Ranches are more than 90% funded through donations, so your gift today through ArkansasGives is the best opportunity all year for you to make the big impact on the life of a child.

For assistance making your gift today during ArkansasGives, contact Matt Cleveland at 501-940-3440 or email matt@youthranches.com. Click here to give now!

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.