This year marks the 30th anniversary of Hill Country Youth Ranch. It is hard to imagine that three decades ago, there was only a dream, a hope, and a prayer where now there is a home for abused children.

This dream lived in the mind of Gary Priour, HCYR’s Founder. The dream was a result of personal experience. A little girl left at Gary’s home in 1971 prompted him to look into the situation for children with no place to call home. Wading through the system, Gary realized that there was a great need for homes for these children.

Gary visited CPS offices and toured some older orphanages. "We need to do better," Gary thought. "These children ask for so little, yet deserve the best – a decent home with belongings of their own, an environment in which they can thrive, and people who care."

The thought became a commitment. With no money in his pocket, Gary approached his family and made an agreement with them. He would accept his family inheritance early, take 107 acres deemed unsuitable for other purposes, and give it to the new non-profit he had started.

With a place to begin, Gary went to work. He approached anyone who would listen and asked for their support. People responded – road builders and carpenters, doctors and lawyers, bankers and businessmen – an entire community came to life to make the dream come true.

After caring for 1100 children, the Youth Ranch, along with its sister campus, Big Springs Ranch for Children, have become the most respected children’s facilities in Texas. The Ingram campus, now a 265-acre village, and the 7000-acre ranch at Leakey are home to a combined 112 children at a time. Alumnae members call daily, current children are healing, schools are preparing kids for college, and prayers are still being answered.

Few people can say they know over a thousand people by name. Fewer still can say they have made a real and lasting difference in that many lives. One man can, although his humble nature will never allow it.

Gary, at age 29, received his portion of family land in 1977, gave it to HCYR, set up a tent in the cedar-choked hills, and started to work. With his young son Michael at his side, Gary told the community at civic clubs and on local cable TV about his dream. On weekends, he hosted builders’ picnics, and volunteers put up the first structures. Civic clubs sponsored fund-raisers, and the whole community got involved through a 24-hour telethon in 1978.

Gary remembers it as a community love story. "I couldn’t believe it. Everyone was excited, talking about it, coming out to see the place, bringing the volunteers food and supplies. It was a genuine ‘happening’, as if a host of angels had appeared."

Marj Nicholson, a civic leader, organized an Auxiliary to offer an ongoing channel for volunteer work, to assist with fund-raising, decorate new houses, and greet the children. All this involvement, says Gary, created a community of caregivers that has anchored the program since.

The development of the Ranch since 1977 falls easily into three 10-year increments. During the first 10 years, five children’s homes were constructed, and a small village took shape. The Ranch soon had a capacity for 40 children.

In 1979, children began to arrive. Gladys, a young girl from Kerrville in need of a safe home, was the first resident. Then came Joyce and Sherry and Trish and Irma. John David was the first boy to call the Ranch home, and by the end of the first ten years, everyone realized that this place was going to work.

The next ten years were spent expanding to ten children’s residences housing 80 children, adding educational, recreational and vocational facilities on "Main Street", and fine tuning the programs.

A real milestone in Gary’s vision was completion of the Meadows Chapel in 1990. The Ranch had started with a prayer and Gary’s deeply-rooted faith. A wooden cross and some stone seats by the creek had provided the first site for sanctuary and worship. After 1990, the chapel became this special place. A gymnasium and swimming pool were added for recreation, and a fine arts center brought theater and other expressive arts to the children.

The third decade has been spent developing a sister campus, Big Springs Ranch for Children near Leakey, some 50 miles from Ingram.

In 1996, Gary joined with a fellow visionary, Oma Bell Perry, to help her realize a dream very much the same as his, and they built a second children’s home on her 7000-acre ranch. Miss Perry added a grandparents program to the mix, and a new village is now thriving.

Fulfilled, and happily exhausted, Gary had at first been very reluctant to take on this new challenge, after 20 years of building. He turned Perry down four times before a mentor told him that when a person has a calling, he doesn’t have as much choice as he might think. So Gary finally said yes. He and Miss Perry prayed together that new angels would come to help, and the angels came.

Eighty-seven buildings and 1100 children later, Gary’s faith still burns strong. "When God wants a need met," he muses, "He becomes a relentless participant in human life. It’s kind of the flip side of the warning in Psalm 127. We learned that, ‘if the Lord builds the house, they labor in victory who build it.’ "

The story of Gary’s faith will be told for generations – by children who lived here and the supporters who joined him. What Gary and his partners have done for the children of Texas is a gift of immeasurable worth. The lives they have touched will never be the same. Well done, Gary. I’m sure all will agree.