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The Grandparents Program - Bridging Generations |
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Oma Bell Perry's extraordinary vision takes shape . . . New Project Reconnects Generations
When she deeded the 7,000-acre Big Springs Ranch to the Hill Country Youth Ranch in 1996, Miss Perry was fulfilling a family dream. Oma Bell had promised her two sisters, who both died in the summer of 1986, that, as the last surviving member of the immediate family, she would see that the land was given to create a home for orphaned and abused children. In addition, Oma Bell believed that senior citizens could make a powerful contribution to the healing and education of children. Oma Bell’s idea was to reconnect generations that she believe had become estranged. Miss Perry had observed that modern children were not as involved with grandparents as they once were, when families relied on each other for basic necessities. "Older folks need to be around children," she says, "and children need to learn from seniors. We’ve lost that in our busy, fast-paced world. The healing of wounded children can be enhanced by providing them with an opportunity to care for grandparent figures, and to learn from them, too. There is an innate respect present between elders and the young that is sometimes missing between children and their parents." Oma Bell's vision is emerging as a masterful and timely contribution to American culture. We build grandparent cottages and seniors came to bring their wisdom and experience. They became participants in a reconstructed family. They have come from all walks of life and help with everything from running the Ranch to teaching at the school. In some larger metropolitan communities, foster grandparent programs are already in place bringing elders together with latch-key youngsters. "Now we can accomplish this in a protected natural setting," says Miss Perry, "where God is still close by." ~~~
Grandparents embrace new life calling . . .
By Angela Moreno-Tijerina Dorothy and Bradley Mann are the kind of grandparents any child would be lucky to have. Walking into their home, you are welcomed by the smell of fresh coffee and the gentle embers in the fireplace. Inspirational Bible verses adorn the refrigerator, held by colorful magnets and mingled with photographs of the Mann’s grandchildren, four biological, and the six girls they have “adopted” at the Davenport Homestead at the Big Springs Ranch. The Manns have been married for 42 years, after meeting when she was in high school and he in college. They lived in Brenham, Texas, since 1964, where Mr. Mann built a name for himself in the ranching business, managing several large cattle ranches. Dorothy has worked as a secretary at various offices, including Hospice, the Brenham hospital, and the Department of Human Services. How these wonderful people found their way to our family is an inspiring story in itself. Last summer, while Bradley was away on a fishing trip, Dorothy happened across the Texas Country Reporter, a news program airing on Sunday mornings. The program featured a story about a dedication ceremony at the Big Springs Ranch, and Dorothy wondered what the event was about. After Bradley returned, the two were planning a trip to the Hill Country when Dorothy remembered the segment she had recently viewed about the ranch near Leakey. Finding the web site on the Internet, together they scrolled through the information, happening on the open position for grandparents. “We weren’t really looking for a job,” Bradley says, “but we thought that if we filled out the applications, we might get a good tour of the place.” Curious, the Manns made the phone call to HCYR. They submitted applications to become grandparents.
“Once we did that, something happened,” Dorothy says. “All at once, we both got the same feeling, that everything was going to be fine, and that God’s will would be done. If we were meant to move to the Big Springs Ranch and serve as grandparents, we were ready.” So next they visited the main campus in Ingram to meet Gary Priour, founder and Director of the HCYR/BSRC. Gary remembers the same confirming sense in his spirit that the Mann’s had experienced after looking at the web site. It was obvious that a more perfect match could not be found. Says Gary, “I knew immediately that this was right. The Manns brought with them an eagerness to help, and a clear vision of being grandparents for wounded children They would offer the children exactly what we had dreamed about when we thought of bringing grandparents into their lives.” Suddenly, the Manns found themselves selling their home in Brenham and dividing their furniture between their own children, selling what remained in a garage sale. Dorothy and Bradley arrived in September of 2000 with only their television, clothes and photographs, the only items they felt they needed to bring. They also arrived with warm smiles and wonderful stories. They embraced their new family with hugs and enthusiasm, plenty to go around. Dorothy and Bradley were immediate hits with the children. They took photographs of the girls and helped with homework, offering treats like cocoa and homemade cookies. Bradley taught them gardening, and Dorothy showed them many of her recipes. “We weren't quite sure if they come over to see us, or our caseroles,” they quipped.
The Manns also reached out to the boys at nearby Cailloux Homestead. On Super Bowl Sunday, the boys came over and watched the game with Grandpa while Grandma kept the food coming. “You would not believe how much those boys can eat,” she says. The Manns soon became active in the nearby Leakey community, as members of the Chamber of Commerce, the Big Springs Ranch Auxiliary and the Leakey Garden Club. They also joined the Leakey Methodist Church, pleased that they had been so warmly welcomed in their new community. “We have been made to feel right at home,” they tell me. In doing so, the Manns built relationships that would help the kids to feel at home, too, when they went to town together. The Manns have brought new friends into the Ranch’s family. “All we have to do is share our story and tell about the amazing things we have witnessed, and others want to help.” Dorothy adds, “The angels grab them, just as soon as they walk onto the Ranch. It’s nothing that we do or say, it just happens.” Says Gary, “It feels to me like the Frio River angels (the ones that dance on the river in the afternoon sun) have been personified. For now, we’ll just refer to them as Grandma and Grandpa. They won’t mind that at all.” ~~~
As Texas' first Intergenerational Village
continues to grow . . . Mrs. Ruby Stevens, long time Ranch supporter, has made another dream come true on the Frio. The sixth Grandparents' Cottage will be dedicated on April 27, 2007. Dean Mitchell, one of the Big Springs Ranch's grandparents and a retired mason, has actually built the new home, where he and his wife Susi, also a BSRC grandparent, will live. We are looking for grandparent couples who would like to join our growing family and participate in this innovative program by coming to live in a beautiful home on the Frio in exchange for offering their time to mentor and grandparent foster children a few hours each week. Anyone interested in applying should email contact@youth-ranch.org or call Michael Gustin at 830-367-6167. To find out more about this wonderful opportunity, go to career opportunities on this website. Below, "Grandpa Dean" takes a group of boys kayaking on the Frio River, sharing one of his many loves.
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Big Springs Ranch Brief History of Big Springs Ranch
The Place of a Thousand Angels
Meditation Garden
Brune Middle School ~~~ An opportunity to make a difference . . . join us If you and your spouse are fifty years of age or older, you might want to spend some time as a grandparent couple for abused and orphaned children living at Big Springs Ranch for Children near Leakey. Serve as volunteer mentors, counselors and grandparents 12 hours a week. In exchange, live rent-free in a beautiful 2300 square feet, two-bedroom, two bath home right on the banks of the Frio River. Nearby, a children's village with homesteads housing eight children and a houseparent couple, are at work healing hearts and minds. Your contribution can be enormous. Children have great respect for their elders, and abused and orphaned children usually feel less threatened by grandparent figures than other adults. See Big Springs Ranch Photos to view some of the structures, and read information throughout this website.
The Cailloux Grandparents' Cottage #2 (shown above) is located on a turn in the Frio River, affording views of several miles of the Upper Frio Canyon in both directions. Shown above, boys from the nearby Cailloux Homestead visit grandparents Dean and Judy Fisher for a getaway before returning for evening chores and homework at their house about a hundred yards upriver. ~~~ Above, long-time BSRC grandpa Dean Mitchell shares a fun moment sitting in the middle of the Frio River with two of his "grandchildren". Outings with fewer than the 8 residents who occupy the main homesteads proves therapeutic for all involved, and grandparents are the key to these opportunities. ~~~ A Note about BSRC and HCYR: Big Springs Ranch for Children in Leakey is a sister campus to Hill Country Youth Ranch in Ingram. Both campuses are governed by a Board of Directors and are dedicated to providing long-term therapeutic care and substitute parenting for abused and abandoned children from all over Texas. Ranch life reflects the world we want our children to grow up in. The children live in reconstructed families in residences designed to house 6 to 8 children and houseparents. They receive a quality education anchored in Judeo-Christian values, and are nurtured by a Christian community of caregivers, including trained and qualified grandparents, who are certified as professional childcare workers through a four-week childcare training program approved by the Department of Family and Protective Services.
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When
Oma Bell Perry first approached Gary Priour in 1992 about taking on the Big
Springs project as a sister campus to the then 25-year-old Hill Country
Youth Ranch at Ingram, she asked
him to
consider building a village for retired persons to co-exist with the
children's village. Slowly the idea grew between them, and a master plan was developed
to build one grandparents cottage to go with each children's homestead.
,
as published in the 
