See  History of Ingram Campus or for more about the beginning of the ministry. 

When the first child arrived at Hill Country Youth Ranch in October, 1979, the facility was still sweeping up the sawdust from the construction of the first cabin. A community of volunteers had worked to prepare the cabin, along with a community center, a garden and a barn, and the children had the makings of a quality rural life. But it was nothing like the 35-building village that sprawls over 265 acres today.

"It was so totally different," says Gladys Myers, HCYR’s very first admission. "A family farm with animals and lots of room.

"What hasn’t changed is that the people at HCYR really care. When I came, I didn’t know it was O.K. to talk to anybody. The Ranch taught me that you can be yourself and that there are really good people in the world. They taught me what love is really about."

Gladys remembers the place as being quiet, peaceful, and — most important — safe.

"It was pretty much the simple life," she says, "where we could take walks without worrying about being bothered or getting run over."

Gladys came to the Ranch after suffering eight years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her father. After each sexual assault, her father would reward her with ice cream or other sweets to win her silence. From the time she was eight, she was given a daily list of chores to finish — cleaning the house, feeding the animals and putting dinner on the table — before her parents came home from work at 6:30 p.m. If her father came and dinner wasn’t on the table, Gladys was severely punished.

"I never knew what was going to happen next," says Gladys.

The mistreatment ended when Gladys, while helping clean the offices at the Department of Human Resources, told a caseworker about her family life.

"I had to move out for him to stop," she said. "My father blamed me for the investigation and denied all the sexual abuse. I knew the Ranch had to be better than what I had already been through."

Her first Christmas with her new family was a shattering one. She still felt connection to her natural parents, so she sent them Christmas presents. Within a week, the packages were returned.

"The packages were there when I got back from school. I broke down and bawled," she says.

She shared her hurt feelings for over an hour with a counselor. That seemed to calm her.

It wasn’t until years later that Gladys tried to contact her mother and father by phone. She only got a taped message which informed her that her parents’ phone had been disconnected. Gladys learned from a family friend that her parents had moved to Washington state without leaving an address.

It’s been many years since she’s heard about her father. She says she’s not interested in seeing him, but that her relationship with her mother has improved. Her mother, who divorced her husband in 1989, has now become one of her best friends.

Gladys spent four years at Hill Country Youth Ranch and graduated from Ingram Tom Moore High School in 1983. By the time she left there were 25 children living at the Ranch.

Her favorite memory is of a summer trip the kids took together to Yellowstone Park in 1981. On the way to the park, they circled by the Grand Canyon and took a helicopter ride, went to Disneyland and the beach, and headed north to see the Redwood forest of northern California.

"It was a wonderful time," she recalls.

After graduation, Gladys tried her hand at several jobs before landing on her love of food service. She joined the operation of Green Grocer Deli in 1987 and eventually became co-owner.

Now at 35, Gladys has returned to HCYR, this time to serve children like herself, in the place she once sought refuge.

"It’s good to be home," she says, with a warm and happy smile.