I went Tuesday (9/23) to an appreciation luncheon at the Tallapoosa County Alabama Sheriffs Girls Ranch — Girls Ranch for short — and came away from the ranch, as I usually do, inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of the staff for making the lives of girls who have been dealt bad hands in life.
The luncheon was an opportunity for the ranch to thank those who have contributed to the ranch with money, materials or hands on efforts and to give an accounting of its stewardship.
THE METHODIST MEN of First United Methodist Church in Dadeville, who sponsored the luncheon, fall in the category of those who have provided hands on help. Although we moved to National Village a year ago, there is only one traffic light between our house and Dadeville, and we have continued to belong to the Methodist Church, and I continue to participate in the men’s group’s projects. The men, as well as Christian Women in Action, the women’s group, have contributed a good deal of time and labor to assisting in ranch director Jimmy Harmon’s push to revitalize and expand the facility.
Jimmy has been at the ranch for only a few months, but he and the people working with him, have tackled a mountain of challenges and have gained far more ground than anyone expected. The ranch’s trademark white board fences have been repainted and the weeds along the fence line cut. Pastures have been mowed, deferred maintenance on some of the homes has been tackled, gardens planted and the grounds spruced up.
I kid Jimmy that if he were a football coach that he’d have the team breaking down the door to get back onto the field after his halftime talk. It was that way Tuesday. He ran down a list of people who have benefitted the ranch in one way or another and what has been accomplished. The achievements are impressive, especially considering that the bank account totaled only four digits when he assumed the job.
Jimmy operates with a lot of faith. When new roofs were needed on some of the homes, a gift appeared. Ditto money for a desperately needed tractor. So when he went down that ambitious list of future projects, I did not doubt that they will be accomplished. Nor that our men’s group will play a significant part in seeing them done.
THE FOCUS, OF COURSE is the girls who live at the ranch. They have been dealt bad hands in life. They have parents who died, or who went to jail, who abandoned them, or who otherwise could not take care of them.
Right now there are a dozen girls living at the ranch. There are girls out there who need a home such as the ranch can provide, and the ranch hopes to provide more housing before the year it out. The ranch is making a home for some girls attending college, too. It has been the practice for boys and girls to be considered grown when they graduate from high school, and they have gone from a very structured environment to complete independence. The ranch will help girls who continue their educations to learn the life skills they will need when they do begin living on their own.
Jimmy has a dream, too, and making a place for pre-adolescent boys whose sisters come to the ranch. He has observed, he said, that siblings who are separated early have difficulty developing the kind of bonds that sisters and brothers who live together do. When he accomplishes his plan, the boys will move to a an all-boys ranch when they reached a certain age.
ANOTHER, NECESSARY, PLAN is to make the ranch more self-sufficient, The ranch gets from the state (the girls are wards of the state) only $60 per girl per month for food. Can you imagine feeding any teenager for a month for $60. In the plans are gardens and fruit trees and vines, and animals. The girls ranch, Jimmy said, needs to be a ranch.
Giving money is a fine thing. Many organizations could not function without generous donors.
But there is something infinitely satisfying about investing your own energy in bettering the lives of people who cannot help themselves. I expect that if you call Jimmy, he will have something that you can do to make the girls’ lives better.
Bill Brown can be reached at bill@williamblakebrown.com
