St. Jude's Ranch for Children

Kid's Attend Cardboard Boat Races

Our kids recently attended a cardboard boat race sponsored by A&E Air Conditioning and Heating at Canyon Lake.  The annual race raises money for charity and this year benefactors included the Bulverde campus of St. Jude's Ranch as well as the New Life Residential Treatment Center in Canyon Lake.  While our kids didn't have a boat in the race this year, they had just as much fun watching from the banks of the lake. Read more about the 1st Annual Cardboard Boat Race and be sure to mark your calendars for next year!

Kind Words We Just Have to Share

The following note from Lisa Spencer was recently received by our Chief Executive Officer, Christine Spadafor and we just had to share.  It’s one of the many reasons we just love to brag about our kids!

When we asked Lisa if we could post it here, her reply was “Of course! Blog it proudly with my name attached if you like!”  Thank you Lisa – we’ll take you up on that offer!

Hi Christine,

Hope things have been well with you and life is great.

Wanted you to know "your kids" were in front of my Whole Foods Market-Summerlin with a couple, older adults today when I did my weekly shop….  I asked the adults if they knew you, said they knew Bridget, asked them to say hi to you from me.  Just so you know, the kids were positive, beaming with inviting smiles and fabulously working together strategically with the front and exit doors.  Please give them kudos for me!  They're sending wonderful energy out into the world, also looked like they were having a fun time.  :)  Please also let their "live-in parents" know they're very fortunate to love such good-hearted, well-behaved, energetic and positive children. I'd be so proud if I were you. 

In Brilliance,

Lisa A. Spencer
Las Vegas, NV

Interested in Volunteering at St. Jude's Ranch?

Two of our community relations coordinators - Brittney Sandler and Erika Curtis have been hard at work listing our organization on two new sites designed to make it easy for folks to volunteer.  The sites - www.serve.gov and www.volunteermatch.org are great sites that organize numerous volulnteer opportunities around the country based on specific parameters. Currently, we are recruiting for our Night of Lights event coming up in December in Boulder City, NV.  We only registered SJRC a few days ago and the response have been fabulous!  We thank all those who signed up and encourage you to check out these sites as well. 

Bulverde Campus Holds Annual Kid's Awards Banquet

This post comes to us from Erika Curtis, community relations coordinator for Texas:

The Bulverde Campus had its annual Kid’s Awards Banquet this month to celebrate our children’s achievements throughout this past year both at school and at home on the Ranch. We gathered our Ranch friends and family to celebrate and by kid’s choice had a pizza party and ice cream social - big hits with the kids and even a few adults! Every child was honored for their accomplishments - no deed is too small to honor! The awards ranged from best reader and most helpful at home to best big brother and most likely to become an engineer! Be sure to visit our photo album.

SJRC to be Featured on KNBT/KGNB Radio Texas

Don't miss SJRC Community Relations Coordinator Erika Curtis and Campus Director Kimberly Chavis on The Comments Show on KNBT/KGNB Radio New Braunfels this weekend.  Recorded for their long running public affairs program, the show features issues effecting New Braunfels and Comal County, TX.

The topic this month is Child Abuse Awareness Month and the efforts various agencies undertake on this front. Be sure to catch the very nice conversation about what each agency does and how all agencies work together for the betterment of the children in our care and the community.

Be sure to catch it live at either of the times below or if you are outside the New Braunfels area you can stream the Sunday episode live on KNBT.

KGNB 1420 AM station:  8-9am Saturday, April 12, 2009

KNBT 92.1 FM station:  9-10am Sunday, April 13, 2009

Transitional Living Facility Now Open!!

What an incredible week!  This past Friday, April 3rd, we opened our first Transitional Living Facility in San Antonio and it was a tremendous success!  SJRC's CEO Christine Spadafor was on the "Woody in the Morning Show" on KTFM as well as KSAT 12 news to talk about this wonderful new offering. (We hope to have links to this soon.)  We had a great turnout and are already hitting the ground running!  A huge thank you to all our supporters who continue to bless us as we work to give our amazing children opportunities and hope. Read more about the opening here.

 

SJRC Transition Living Program Moving to San Antonio

After winning a $100,000 grant from Impact San Antonio we are moving our Transitional Living Program from our Bulverde Campus to a new home in San Antonio, Texas.  We have chosen a home in a terrific, central location in San Antonio, and are in the process of furnishing the home and relocating our Transitional Living residents. The Transitional Living Program provides therapeutic residential care for up to 12 young adults ages 16 to 21. It offers our older children the opportunity to become productive and self-sufficient adults while teaching them how to run their own household and become fully responsible citizens in the community. Moving the Program to San Antonio allows our kids to have closer proximity to major universities and community colleges as well as vocational schools and programs.  In addition they will have more employment opportunities, the ability to learn and utilize the public transportation system and access to services and programs such as PAL, Casey Family Services, City Corp, and Good SAMM services (GED and secondary education trade programs).  Stay tuned to our blog for more details as we get ready to celebrate our grand opening!

Nascar Gets A Special Visit from Our Kids

Some lucky Ranch residents visited Nascar recently thanks to Boyd Gaming who donated the tickets.  According to the kids, they were thrilled and had a blast - we heard "It was cool!" and "I didn't know how loud it would be." from two participants.  Visit the album for some more photos.

SJRC Provides Safety and Happiness for Thriving Teenager

We are proud of our kids and would like to share some of their amazing stories with you, our readers.  From time to time, we'll post a success story here on our blog.  We invite you to also visit our website for more children's success stories.

Today's story is about Francine.  A beautiful, young fourteen year old girl who came to the Ranch in 2008. She was not receiving structure, accountability or support from her mother or her mother’s boyfriend and was placed in situations that jeopardized her safety.  Francine would be sent from her home by her mother to act as a prostitute and lure drug dealers to a remote location. Once there, her mother and her mother’s boyfriend would rob these individuals and physically assault them.

Francine was left in a precarious situation while doing this solicitation for her mother – one that led to her entanglement with law enforcement authorities. While her mother and her mother’s boyfriend escaped charges, Francine did not. In lieu of placing her in detention, state officials worked out a placement situation with St. Jude’s Ranch for Children. This allowed Francine the opportunity to receive the structure and care she so desperately needed to become a thriving young woman.

When interviewed for placement at St. Jude’s Ranch, Francine cried and pleaded with the staff to allow her to come to the Ranch and “just live life as a kid.” She spoke about how she cried herself to sleep every night and was distraught because her mother refused to come visit her.

Today, Francine is just like the rest of the young women on campus. She goes to public school and looks forward to school dances and opportunities to meet other kids her age. She runs and plays across the campus with a larger than life spirit about her, often setting a wonderful example for other children living with her.

If you met Francine today you would never believe she once was forced into a life of crime and delinquency. Now is her time to heal and she has that chance living on the Ranch. She is thriving with the therapeutic structure the Ranch provides and receives compassionate care from the staff. And now she is just what she always wanted to be – a happy teenager!

Great News from our Nevada Campus!

A fantastic and uplifting story to share with you today from Jennifer Becker, community relations coordinator for Nevada. As the school year kicks back into gear after the holidays, we have some great news to share on last semester's grades for one of our residents. (Click here to read more exciting stories about our children.)

I wanted to update you on the grades we got in for the kids here on the Boulder City Campus for last semester.  We have one young man named Andre* who is 16 years old and suffers from some learning disabilities.  He struggled when he first came to the Ranch, adjusting to the new atmosphere and school.  He and his siblings were removed from their parents care due to an allegedly severe case of neglect and reported abuse.  This past semester was the first full semester Andre spent in his new school since moving to the Ranch and he received all A’s and B’s, despite his learning disability!!  Andre receives special attention and care by the trained staff here on the Ranch and is thriving in school and at home.  He is an example of so many ways in which St. Jude’s Ranch changes the lives of children everyday.  (Please note names are changed to protect the identities of our children)