Giving Tuesday, November 29th!!
11/15/2022

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 on #GivingTuesday. For every dollar donated to the ASYR on November 29th, Citizens Bank will match your contributions up to $5,000!

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

1. Make an online donation by clicking here. 
2. Text the word ranch to 26989, or call 501-940-3440 to make a gift of any amount with a credit or debit card.
3. Drop your donation by any Citizens Bank location. We will be at Citizens Bank’s headquarters located at 655 South Saint Louis Street in Batesville on #GivingTuesday. Feel free to drive through and see us there, or drop your gift by any Citizens Bank location!
4. 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 #GivingTuesday.
5. Follow @YouthRanches for social media updates on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and share posts with your friends.
6. Visit our ways to help page or contact Matthew Cleveland at 501-940-3440 or matt@youthranches.com to learn about other giving opportunities or to make an additional matching gift.

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
•  Feed for goats, chickens or other animals on the Ranch
•  Salary for our loving houseparents
•  Groceries for our cottages

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!

Llahoma’s Story
10/18/2022

An Unimaginable Childhood

Llahoma was only 10 years old when her parents divorced. Soon after that, her mother became pregnant with another man’s child. Her mother went from job to job. Over the next 3 years, they were evicted often and a variety of men were in and out of Llahoma’s life. There was no stability.

Llahoma’s mom and her live in boyfriend were both addicted to drugs. Her mother would often try to barter her for sex in exchange for more drugs.

First, her mom was trafficking drugs. Then she started an escort service. Every day was filled with physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. In the 6^th grade, Llahoma only went to school for 3 months. She was beaten so badly that year that she couldn’t use her arm.

When Llahoma was 13, her mom had sobered up, but she thought Llahoma was the cause of all her problems, so she decided that sending Llahoma to live with her dad was the solution. She took Llahoma to Toad Suck Park near Conway, gave her a scribbled note with a number for a taxi, and an address she believed to be Llahoma’s dad’s. Then she left.

This was the last time Llahoma saw her mother alive.

Llahoma was not a welcomed guest at her father’s house because he had a girlfriend who had her own child. Llahoma was devastated. But fortunately, this situation led to her finding the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranch.

“It was hard when I first came to the Ranch. I didn’t want to talk to the counselor, I just wanted to listen to my Walkman. After all the hurt from my mom, I felt that my dad didn’t care either.”

Soon after Llahoma arrived at the Ranch, the staff and her doctors discovered that she was addicted to amphetamines and was experiencing withdrawals. She had no idea that her mom’s boyfriend had been slipping her drugs to be able to sexually abuse her.

The Next Chapter

Although Llahoma’s story began with an unimaginable childhood, thanks to loving houseparents at the Ranch and generous donors who make the our work possible, this story gets better.

Once her system was clean, Llahoma realized she was in a safe place at the Ranch. And Ranch life was so much better! She got real food every single day – and someone actually cooked her food. She was also able to bond with other girls at the Ranch who had been through similar situations. She no longer felt like an outcast because the girls had each other, and the guys were like real brothers. She knew they had her back and that the Ranch was a safe place where no one would come in her room at night.

Dr. ‘G’ was Llahoma’s counselor, and he was so helpful in her recovery. He taught her how to have appropriate interaction with men and not be afraid. He taught her who she could be.

Llahoma says that houseparents are truly the unsung heroes of the Ranch. They not only care for the children’s physical needs, but they also make every child feel safe and loved.

Not long after coming to the Ranch Llahoma got a job at age 14. The Ranch encourages Ranchers to get jobs. She saved her money, and at 16 she bought a car. She excelled in school. She was Vice President of the ART Club, active in her schools chapters of Future Business Leaders of America and Future Farmers of America, and she played softball. She loved staying busy with her school’s extracurricular activities, and her houseparents always encouraged her in her endeavors. Upon graduation she got a full ride scholarship to Henderson State University, where she attended their Honors College.

Llahoma became involved with the Humane Society and was the youngest person ever elected to their Board of Directors at age 20. Later, she received a job offer from the Red Cross and moved to Baltimore. She also worked with Americorp and the Domestic Peace Corps.

At age 25, Llahoma learned that her Mom had cancer and had passed away, so she returned to Arkansas for the funeral.

Llahoma has a big heart for animals, and after returning to Arkansas, she was offered a Regional Training position for Petco as a Behavior Consultant working with abused animals. Many of her clients referred to her as the “Dog Whisperer.” Not only had she been abused, but she formed special bonds with her pets that had also been abused.

A Bright Future

For awhile, Llahoma served as the Regional Philanthropy Officer for the American Red Cross. Today, she is the Chief Development Officer for a Boys and Girls Club in Wisconsin. When she isn’t at work, overseeing a multi-million dollar budget, you can find her at home or adventuring with her daughter!

Thanks to everyone that supports the Ranch, Llahoma has grown into a successful young woman. She tells us, “I have found my voice and it is strong!” So from Llahoma, her daughter, and everyone at the Ranch, we are grateful to everyone who played a part in Llahoma’s story.

“This is my story. I would not be the woman or the mother I am today without my story, and the Ranch is a big part of that.”

You Can Help

Llahoma’s story is just one of more than 2,400 boys and girls who have called the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranch home over the 40 plus years. Thanks to generous supporters of the Ranch and their love for children, lives are changed every day at the Ranch. With an annual or monthly gift to the Ranch, you too can impact the lives of children children like Llahoma who have been neglected, abused and abandoned. Click here to give today.

As an honorary member of the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches, you become our partner in serving hurting children. We could not do this important work without the faithful support of friends like you.

Many of our Ranchers have had a difficult past, but at the ASYR they find a brighter future. But we can’t do it without friends like you! You can join us in this lifesaving mission by committing to an annual or monthly gift today.

To watch Llahoma tell her story in her own words, CLICK HERE!! 

October Pumpkin Patch 2022
08/24/2022

Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches 5th Annual Pumpkin Patch October 2022

We are so excited to welcome visitors back to the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches for our 5th annual Pumpkin Patch presented by First Community Bank!

photo courtesy of www.amandafarris.org

Each year, our staff and children work to transform the Ranch into a fall wonderland that is fun for the whole family! This year’s Pumpkin Patch will run from October 6th to October 30.

Admission is only $10 and includes one pumpkin per visitor and free access to all of these fun activities: 

• Barrel Train Ride
• Enchanted Forest
• Hay Ride
• Bouncy Houses
• Inflatable Maze
• Petting Zoo
• Corn Pit
• Maze

We will also have face painting, cookie decorating, carnival games and SO MUCH more!

Our beautiful 600 acre campus offers many opportunities for beautiful fall photos with the whole family, and we’ll also have some fun photo spots set up for the kids!

Directions: The ASYR is located just west of Batesville, near the community of Bethesda out Highway 106. Follow highway signs to Arkansas Sheriffs Ranch down Earnheart Road and turn right onto Saint Vincent Place for parking.

Presenting Sponsor

Pumpkin Sponsor

• FutureFuel Chemical Company

Activity Sponsors

• Intimidator
• Littlefield Oil Company
• Precise Heating Air & Electrical
• Southern Bank

Patch Supporters

• Bad Boy Mowers
• Home Depot

Gourmet Guru Grill Giveaway!
05/06/2022

Grilling season is here, and we are very excited to offer another opportunity to win a beautiful new Deluxe Gourmet Guru Grill while benefiting the mission of the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches!

Details: For every $10 you donate to the Ranch through this special link, you will be entered to win this Deluxe Grill from Gourmet Guru Grills. For every $25 you donate, you will receive three (3) entries. Drawing will be held on Friday, June 17, just in time for Father’s Day!

The Gourmet Guru Grill comes with a handy Metal Rolling Cart, and together they retail for $948! The Deluxe Gourmet Guru Grill is a beautiful ceramic charcoal grill that distributes heat evenly so that whatever you cook comes out grilled to perfection! The Deluxe Grill combines a grill, a smoker, and a brick oven for a variety of applications, and it also includes a lifetime warranty.

Past winner Michele Towne says, “You can’t win if you don’t buy a ticket. Support a great cause, and buy two or three tickets to double or triple your chances to win. Dad will love it and so will mom!”

MANY THANKS! to the anonymous donor for donating the Gourmet Guru Deluxe Grill and Metal Rolling Cart to raise support for the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches.

At the Ranch, we provide homes for some of Arkansas’s most vulnerable boys and girls. Your gift today can truly make a difference in the lives of the children we serve. Don’t miss this opportunity!!

Click here to make your gift today!

VOTE for Ranch to Receive $5,000 Difference Maker Award
03/04/2022

In 2018, Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches received a Difference Maker Award from Rainwater Holt & Sexton for our work protecting children from violence and abuse.

This year, in honor of 5 years of presenting this award to local charities, Rainwater Holt & Sexton will donate $5,000 to the charity that receives the most votes.

YOU can help the Ranch receive this $5,000 donation! Just click here to vote for Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches.

Since 1976, the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranch has raised more than 2,200 boys and girls from every corner of the state. These are children, who through no fault of their own, needed a safe, loving home where they can thrive. With your help, many more children can have this same opportunity.

As an organization that is 100% privately funded, every gift makes a difference and is very much appreciated. Please consider a gift to the Ranch today. To learn more ways to support, click here.

There’s Still Time to Make a Difference in 2021
12/30/2021

Photography by Jason Masters

As we wrap up our 45th year at the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches, we are grateful that you helped us accomplish BIG things in 2021! This year:

• More than 40 boys and girls have found a home and hope for a brighter future at the Ranch.
• One of our Ranchers graduated from high school a semester early and is headed to basic training in January to join the U.S. Marine Corps.
• Over 4,000 visitors came out to the Youth Ranch Pumpkin Patch.
• We honored the Heflin Family at the 26th annual Arkansas Children’s Award Dinner.
• Many celebrated weddings and special events at the Ranch’s events center and chapel.
• We celebrated lots of birthdays, and our Ranchers had a wonderful Christmas!

However, none of this is possible without friends like you supporting our mission. Because the ASYR is 100% privately funded, we rely on charitable gifts to provide safe and loving homes for children each year. Your year-end gift is an investment in these young lives.

Click here to make an online gift today or mail your gift postmarked by December 31 to ASYR, PO Box 3964, Batesville, AR 72503.

With a year-end gift, you can help the Ranch finish strong in 2021 and put us on a firm footing to serve even more children in 2022. As a 501c3 nonprofit organization, all gifts made to the ASYR are tax deductible within the extent of the law.

Thank you for joining us in our mission to care for some of Arkansas’s most vulnerable children. When we all work together to do our “little bit of good,” we can do great things. And there is no one more deserving than these children.

Blessings to you and yours in the New Year!
Matthew Cleveland, CFRE
Chief Development Officer

P.S. In addition to giving online or by mail, there is still time to make a gift of stock or the required minimum distribution from your IRA before December 31st. Please contact your investment advisor, and feel free to reply to this email or call me at 501-940-3440 if I can be of service to you. Click here to learn more ways to support.

A Christmas Story

MANY THANKS! to everyone who gave this year to make sure our Ranchers had a merry Christmas. I have to share one story with you to let you know just how much this means to us.

We currently have a 15 year-old young man at the Ranch who had never experienced Christmas before this year. When decorating the Christmas tree with his fellow Ranchers, his wise and loving houseparent asked if he would like to put the angel on top of the tree. He could not have been happier to help. It was such a special moment to him that he curled up under the tree and cried.

This Christmas memory will be a bright spot in what might have been a dark season for this young man, and he will remember it for the rest of his life. Thank you to everyone who supports the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches and for making moments like this possible!

Save the Date: #GivingTuesday is November 30, 2021
11/12/2021

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 on #GivingTuesday. For every dollar donated to the ASYR on November 30th, Citizens Bank will match your contributions up to $5,000!

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

1. Make an online donation by clicking here. 
2. Text the word ranch to 26989, or call 501-940-3440 to make a gift of any amount with a credit or debit card.
3. Drop your donation by any Citizens Bank location. We will be at Citizens Bank’s headquarters located at 655 South Saint Louis Street in Batesville on #GivingTuesday. Feel free to drive through and see us there, or drop your gift by any Citizens Bank location!
4. 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 #GivingTuesday.
5. Follow @YouthRanches for social media updates on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and share posts with your friends.
6. Visit our ways to help page or contact Matthew Cleveland at 501-940-3440 or matt@youthranches.com to learn about other giving opportunities or to make an additional matching gift.

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
•  Feed for goats, chickens or other animals on the Ranch
•  Salary for our loving houseparents
•  Groceries for our cottages

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!

Become a Houseparent
07/08/2021

The Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches is looking for loving houseparents with a heart for raising children. We are looking for both full-time and relief houseparents. Our houseparents are the primary caregivers for children who call the Ranch home. Houseparents play a vital role in our mission. They demonstrate how a healthy home functions by serving as healthy, emotionally stable parents, interacting with children, family, and friends.

Some duties include: supervising children, maintaining records, keeping an orderly and clean home, and working cooperatively with Ranch staff and the other families who reside at the Ranch. Our ideal houseparent takes an active role in raising and inspiring children. We want houseparents to involve our Ranch boys and girls in 4H and our educational farm program. We want houseparents to engage children in fun activities that promote growth.

The ASYR is a 24 hours a day, 365 days a year home for children on a nearly 600-acre working ranch. Houseparents live in four large family homes and care for up to eight children in each home. Full-time houseparents are not required to have a second residence; they reside in an apartment in the home. Part-time relief houseparents provide respite for full-time houseparents eight days each month.

One of our houseparents describes her role at the Ranch:

“For us, we don’t look at being houseparent as a job. We just say it’s life. We are all just parents doing the best job we can to raise a houseful of kids. The ASYR is a community of families who live and work together on the Ranch. Being a houseparent takes commitment, sacrifice, vulnerability and a HUGE heart for children.”

To learn more about becoming an ASYR Houseparent or other employment opportunities at the Ranch, contact Philip Ives at 870-793-6841 or email philip@youthranches.com. To apply, fill out our application and submit to philip@youthranches.com.

Youth Ranch Pumpkin Patch Announced for October
06/30/2021

Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches 4th Annual Pumpkin Patch October 2021

After a year of cancelled events, we are excited to welcome visitors back to the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches for our 4th annual Pumpkin Patch presented by First Community Bank!

photo courtesy of www.amandafarris.org

Each year, our staff and children work to transform the Ranch into a fall wonderland that is fun for the whole family! This year’s Pumpkin Patch will run from October 1st to October 31.

Admission is only $10 and includes one pumpkin per visitor and free access to all of these fun activities: 

• Barrel Train Ride
• Haunted Forest
• Hay Ride
• Bouncy Houses
• Petting Zoo
• Corn Pit
• Maze

We will also have face painting, cookie decorating, carnival games and more!

Our beautiful 600 acre campus offers many opportunities for beautiful fall photos with the whole family, and we’ll also have some fun photo spots set up for the kids!

Directions: The ASYR is located just west of Batesville, near the community of Bethesda out Highway 106. Follow highway signs to Arkansas Sheriffs Ranch down Earnheart Road and turn right onto Saint Vincent Place for parking.

Presenting Sponsor

Activity Sponsor

• FutureFuel Chemical Company
• Littlefield Oil Company
• Precise Heating Air & Electrical
• Southern Bank
• T-Mobile

Patch Supporters

• Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce