Current Events

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=120 BGCOLOR="#333333" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=60 BGCOLOR="#660000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <A HREF="home.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="HOME"><U>HOME</U></A>   |   <A HREF="ourmission.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Our Mission"><U>Our Mission</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id255.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Directors Desk"><U>Director's Desk</U></A>   |   <A HREF="ourphilosophycorevalues.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Our Philosophy/Core Values"><U>Our Philosophy/Core Values</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id212.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Our History"><U>Our History</U></A>   |   <A HREF="ourservices.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Our Services"><U>Our Services</U></A>   |   <A HREF="equineprogram.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Equine Program"><U>Equine Program</U></A>   |   <A HREF="phasei.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Girls Home"><U>Girl's Home</U></A>   |   <A HREF="youcanhelp.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="You Can Help"><U>You Can Help</U></A>   |   <A HREF="ourwishlist.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Our Wish List"><U>Our Wish List</U></A>   |   <A HREF="contactus.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U>Contact Us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="map.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Map"><U>Map</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id233.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Smith Family Homes, Inc."><U>Smith Family Homes, Inc.</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id228.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Get Involved"><U>Get Involved</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Donor List"><U>Donor List</U></A>   |   <A HREF="poemsandstories.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Poems/Stories"><U>Poems/Stories</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id271.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Freedom Project"><U>Freedom Project</U></A>   |   <A HREF="boardofdirectors.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Board of Directors"><U>Board of Directors</U></A>   |   <A HREF="prayerpartners.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Become a Prayer Partner"><U>Become a Prayer Partner</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id213.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Meet Our Horses"><U>Meet Our Horses</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id209.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Academy"><U>Academy</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id215.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fencing Project"><U>Fencing Project</U></A>   |   <B>Current Events</B>   |   <A HREF="id283.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Admission"><U>Admission</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=420 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#990000" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" >HOPE YOUTH RANCH, INC.</FONT> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#333399" FACE="Arial" >   |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="HOPE YOUTH RANCH, INC."><U>home</U></A></FONT></div> <div> <I>"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."  Genesis. 50:20</I></div> <bR> <div> <U>Current Events</U></div> <bR> <div> <B>HOMELESS OUTREACH</B></div> <div> <B>"It is more blessed to give than to receive" - Jesus</B></div> <bR> <div> I remember my mother telling me a little story that went something like this... "I was upset because I did not have any shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet." - sound familiar, perhaps your mom told you the same story.  The moral of the story... there are always others who are hurting more than we are.  There is an irony to helping others when we are hurting ourselves...it makes us feel better.  Refocusing our vision from an inward view to an outward view makes things look a whole lot different.  That is what we hope will happen in the lives of the teens at the ranch as they give of themselves for others.</div> <bR> <div> Kristin Taylor with T.H.O.R.N. Ministries spoke recently at HYR about the homeless outreach she started close to 15 years ago in downtown Tampa.  The girls immediately asked if they could go and help. Kristin shared with them that they had something special that many people lacked...<I>compassion</I>.  She told them that they know all too well what rejection and the lack of a place to call home feels like.  Her words ignited a spark that has turned into a passion with the girls. We have committed to helping Kristin and her group of volunteers every 4th Sunday of the month.  The girls are collecting travel size toiletries, socks and deodorant to take out with them. Please <A HREF="mailto:info@hopeyouthranch.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:info@hopeyouthranch.org"><U>e-mail</U></A> us for more info.   </div> <bR> <div> <B>Coming full Circle</B></div> <div> Interesting that our personal outreach to the homeless (See <A HREF="id212.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Our History"><U>Our History</U></A>) is what helped birth HOPE Youth Ranch as we began to view the homeless as hurting children who had never healed from the wounds of abuse and neglect since so many shared stories of abuse as children.  As I watched the girls in the serving line I couldn't help but think and <I>hope</I><I><B> </B></I>that the work being done at the ranch will help keep them behind the serving line rather than in it.</div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="614" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 156 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="a09c8960.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="150" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="a0bc8960.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="150" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="a0dc8950.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="149" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> Bracelet girls made to give away.</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Food line at second stop.</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="200"><div> Food line at third stop.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>SHOW PALACE OUTING</B></div> <bR> <div> WAG (Women's Alternative to Golf) an organization made up of ladies from Heritage Pines Golf Community recently treated the girls to an afternoon dinner show at the Show Palace.  We had a wonderful time and enjoyed a beautiful lunch courtesy of these awesome ladies.  WAG also sponsors the girls at Christmas time and provides yearly passes for Busch Gardens.  They supply birthday cakes and loyally provide toilet paper and other paper goods on a monthly basis. Thank You, Ladies!</div> <bR> <div>  <IMG SRC="9e1fabc0.jpg" border=0 width="250" height="188" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  </div> <bR> <div> <B>BABY BOOKS</B></div> <bR> <div> The girls have been working on baby photo albums for teens referred to us by the West Pasco Pregnancy Center.  The girls have made special baby albums for these moms which include a personalized note from each of our teens explaining why pictures are important in the life of a child.  Many of our girls unfortunately do not have many if any baby pictures of themselves and they hope through these baby albums to get the word out to young moms of the importance of pictures.</div> <bR> <div> <B>BRACELETS FOR ECUADORIAN CHILDREN</B></div> <bR> <div> Weaving bracelets for poor children in Ecuador as part of "Art Class" helps the girls learn a new art and provides them with an opportunity to be a blessing to another hurting child.  These bracelets will be delivered to Ecuadorian children during an upcoming Missions Trip in November.</div> <bR> <div> <I>Check back for other exciting news as we embark on a "Missions Track" here at the ranch....</I></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>