by Gary Priour

After 30 years, there is still an air of progress at the Youth Ranch. 

A new contributor, during his first visit to the campus last month, remarked, “You must be amazed by how all of this has come to be.”

He had it exactly right.  What started as a dream and a cedar break has become a “continuum of care” for abused and orphaned children, bringing together top professionals, in quality facilities on two campuses, giving wounded children the best treatment and care available. 

I do know that the two villages have been built and operated because people were willing to sacrifice for children who had suffered great loss and tragedy.  I can often sense God’s guiding Hand, as He brings us together with others willing to help.  They sense it, too. 

But I cannot describe, any further than that, what must go on in the Unseen to make possible the meeting of needs through the gathering of the saints.  So many people have given, and continue to give, to make possible this ministry – to fund it, to defend it, to lead it, to supply it with His eyes, ears, hands and feet . . . 

I’m glad I am a person of faith. As the saying goes, “I don’t just believe in miracles . . . I count on them.”  Part of my reinforcement in seeing possibilities amidst difficulties derives from my direct observation of over 1100 children who have picked up the pieces of their broken lives and become successful adults, finding their individual roads to a better life.  What miracles they are!!

Even so, at each new crisis in the road of this ministry, I feel my feet of clay.  Without faith, and a memory of what He has already done, I would shrivel into fear at some of the prospects ahead.  Perhaps the most telling turning points come when our ongoing expansion to care for more children runs counter to the financial times.  Then, the “numbers” make it look like we ought to bunker down, pull back, wait on the tide to turn. 

But then I see those other “numbers” – the numbers of children on the streets, in dangerous homes, beaten down and broken, and the same Voice that’s guided me through thirty years of caring for children returns, “if not you, then who?”

We are at just such a turning point now.  The Texas childcare system is in chaos.  Budget cuts have hurt not only Child Protective Services and its ability to investigate child abuse, but the providers who care for the children removed from unsafe environments.  Many providers have closed their doors in the past year.  The Youth Ranch, anchored in a loving and generous community, will not close.  But here we are expanding!!

Thanks to gifts of new buildings, we will be caring for over 100 children at a time by mid-2005.  Ed and Trudy Brune have just given $1.6 million to build a new middle school, to go with the Brune High School, where 70 “at-risk” students are enrolled this year, and more are on a waiting list.  The gift will also build a gymnasium, and an independent living cottage for older teens at the new campus.  

Ruby Stevens, who helped start the Ingram campus in 1978 by building the first children’s residence, has added a grandparents’ cottage at the Big Springs campus, and the village there is well on its way to fulfilling “Miss Oma Bell’s dream.”

Now, of course, we have to operate the expanded program, and that’s where the numbers look scary.  The state has cut fees for the professional services it requires, and the 2005 legislative session  faces a mess at CPS, with neither the funds nor the focus to fix it.

We’ve been here before, but the stakes weren’t as high.  In 1986, the state went broke during difficult times, and told its partners in non-profit childcare to “send the children back to their counties of origin.”  We were appalled.  We assured the children they would not have to go homeless, and our community chipped in to provide the missing budget component so they could stay, all of them.  But there were only 40 children at the time, and the expenses were far less daunting.

Nevertheless, the cliff of financial meltdown loomed near enough, and as we shared our needs, the bridge to the future was built.  I’ll never forget the inspiration provided by one young lady when the word came about “no more state funding”.  Cathy asked to see me because her caseworker had told her that Harris County couldn’t afford to place her here, even at the modest $300 per month fee being provided at the time.  She walked into my office, shook my hand, and said, “I want to stay here, Mr. Priour.  I will work to pay for my keep, and I will make you proud of me.  You will not be disappointed if you give me a chance.” 

Cathy’s courageous spirit still echoes, and I believe we are called to give more children a chance, in times when even more of them are at-risk for their very lives.  But the projected shortfall for 2005 is over $300,000 beyond our estimated revenues.  That’s a big mountain.  The Board and Auxiliary are braced to help all they can.  And, I am certain there’s a Hand moving through the Unseen, guiding angels toward us.

In my prayer time, I’m asking for the wisdom to help focus our family on the long term – to state clearly what our friends need to know about the possibilities amidst these challenges.  Back near the beginning of the Ranch, in 1978, the HCYR Foundation was created as a separate endowment whose income would help fund the program.  This is a traditional structure for many of the oldest and most successful children’s homes in the nation, such as Cal Farley’s and Father Flannigan’s, who can now operate with zero funding from governmental sources. 

That’s our dream, too, and the best promise for securing the future for our children.  It will take millions of dollars set aside permanently in this “working principal” to produce enough annual income to support a family of 100 children, and growing.