 James C. Soft, President |
Teddy is an expert in heartbreak and abandonment. His mother was killed in a car accident when he was 12 years old. He was sent to live with an alcoholic father who hadn't seen him since he was 6. Teddy says the abuse began the first day he arrived at his father's house, a converted chicken coop, eight miles from town. Everyone at school noticed his worn out dirty clothes, hair that went months without a haircut, and teeth that were in desperate need of a dentist. Teddy was an object of ridicule for the other kids. Only his kind hearted teacher tried to help by bringing him better fitting clothes and toiletries she purchased with her own money.
Ironically, the day Teddy came to school with a black eye, bloody lip and bruises on his arms became the luckiest day of his life. Teddy's teacher reported potential abuse and Teddy as soon removed from his father's custody. Teddy began a series of placements in a variety of foster homes, but his depression and inability to manage his own anger brought about more abandonment by families that didn't feel qualified to help him.
Finally, teddy was placed at Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch by Child Protective Services when he was 16. For the past two years he has thrived in his lodge and at the Yellowstone Academy where he's received one-on-one assistance to catch up on his schoolwork. He wasn't quite ready to graduate with his peers in June, but he is looking forward to graduating in November. It's a great achievement for Teddy who finally feels like he fits in somewhere.
If Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch were like most other places we would put him out the door when Teddy turns 18 in August. But thanks to generous friends like you, Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch is not like anywhere else! We can keep Teddy at Yellowstone until graduation day in November and we are already helping him to prepare for independent living by moving him to our transitional group home. Teddy's track record of abandonment ended at Yellowstone. We will not close the door on Teddy, especially with graduation within reach.
Teddy has really blossomed in our agricultural programs. He follows our Ranch manager around absorbing ranching techniques like a sponge. Teddy helps replace fencing in our corrals and feedlot. He helps vaccinate the horses, muck out the stalls and feed all the animals. Teddy told a staff mentor, "I feel at peace around animals. I take care of them the way I'd like to be treated. They trust me and make me feel like I finally belong somewhere."
Right now, we are planning a big project to renovate a building next to our Equestrian Center. This building is going to be our 4H Barn and Veterinary Care Center for our animals. For kids like Teddy, we are providing them with real life ranch training. Some children may never make it their lifelong career, but for some youth like Teddy, it could become a way of life.
The cost of renovating the 4-H Barn is $28,785.55. Renovation includes drywall, painting inside and out, replacing windows, rewiring, building corrals, creating a Vet Room and fully furnishing it for veterinary care and equipment that will allow us to do a lot of the work of husbandry ourselves and save considerable money on veterinary bills.
We'll set it up for 4-H steers to be raised and brood mares and foals to be kept close until they're ready for the larger pasture behind the riding arena. Already a crew of girls is working on halter breaking the yearlings and working with our 3 newborn foals. Everyone has a job to do and a way to make themselves useful.
We need your help to renovate the 4-H Barn. Boys and girls of all ages at the Ranch are already involved in agricultural programs. The little boys of Dorothy's Lodge get up bright and early before summer school every day to feed the bum lambs that are kept near their lodge. The teens girls hurry home from dinner in the Dining Hall to feed them again before 7pm.
I have to tell you that our vocational agriculture programs couldn't be possible without generous friends like you. I hope you'll help us build this 4-H Barn to serve hundreds of boys and girls for the next several decades. As Teddy said, "I don't feel like I'm in treatment when I'm working with the animals. I feel like I found where I belong."
For the children,
JAMES C. SOFT, President