Blog

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” Luke 24:5-6 “It’s not our story to tell.” —Confidentiality training at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch This week we celebrate Easter. The story of the…

Trauma is a thief. It steals one’s sense of safety, predictability, trust. A generally accepted definition of Emotional and psychological trauma is “the result of extraordinarily stressful events that shatter your sense of security, making you feel helpless in a…

Our mission at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch is to “help at-risk children and their families succeed in the name of Christ.” Our work at the Ranch is to help children find their best selves. Ranch kids learn to think…

I recently attended chapel at the Ranch. That’s not really newsworthy. We have chapel services on all of our campuses at 4:30 p.m. every Thursday. I like to attend whenever I can, and when I do, I always leave feeling…

When you meet Emily today, the first things you’ll notice are her wonderful smile and contagious laugh. A very different young woman than the one who walked into Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch—who at that time didn’t crack a smile,…

Laura was born in New York to parents who were, according to Laura, “really into drugs. My dad started stealing from people at work, so he ended up getting arrested.” When Laura’s dad went to jail, her mother moved the…

Vocational Education began at the Minot campus of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch many years ago with livestock, a corn crop, and honeybees. It has changed over the years to become Career and Technical Education, and now students learn and practice technicals…

Aliyah didn’t need help. Yes, severe anxiety and depression made her life hard. So hard she couldn’t get out of bed some days. But still—she could handle it on her own. She was used to taking care of things herself….

A few weeks ago, I was at my desk when I heard a familiar voice in the lobby. “Look! I’m being adopted!” As I came around the corner to confirm my suspicions, a handsome boy came running at me with…

Deaconess Kelly Bristow is the Spiritual Life Coordinator on the Minot Campus of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. She is a woman of deep faith in Christ, unbounded love, commitment to mercy care, and she’s smart. However, I don’t think…

School is so much more than a place to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic. In school, children learn how to work in teams, how to build relationships with their peers and adults, and how to manage their emotions and feelings…

Elizabeth Muralt is on a mission. Her mission is to share her story with children in the foster care system and to advocate for policy change that helps foster care youth live more normal lives. “I want kids in foster…

Anthony didn’t plan to graduate from high school. For as long as he can remember, his plan was to drop out of school as soon as he reached the legal dropout age. Yet, he was one of six students to…

How do teachers learn to work with the kids at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch? To learn, children must be connected to, or engaged with, what’s going on in the classroom. It’s a challenge for every teacher to make their…

“I have been participating in the Thrivent Choice Program for quite some time,” says Linda Hill, a loyal Ranch friend. “It is so easy to use, and I love that all these dollars support the Spiritual Life Program at the…

Children’s brains are little learning machines. They learn from what we say and do, and what we don’t say and do. We must be intentional about what we teach. I heard a story recently about a young mother whose daughter…

Sometimes I am astounded by how we continue the work of the Ranch in spite of obstacles put in our way. In the last week, the basement of one of our thrift stores flooded. Then, someone cut the catalytic converters…

Karen Leeseberg has been supporting Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, either herself or through her parents, since she was born. Her father was a pastor, so the family contributed to a lot of Lutheran organizations. In Karen’s mind, Ranch honey is…

Benji Dick, a 48-year-old North Dakota farmer, uses his head, as well as his heart, to make decisions about giving. He takes advantage of an often-overlooked giving tool for farmers–gifting farm commodities, including grain and legumes, directly to charity. Giving…

George and Eleanor Krueger, Monroe, MI, are well aware of the traumas many children endure. In George’s 30-year career in law enforcement and Eleanor’s 44 years as a school teacher, they both saw firsthand the impact abuse and neglect had…

Some people have the incredible ability to turn grief into generosity. That is certainly the case with long-time Ranch donor, Marlys Lindgren, from Hutchinson, MN. In the late 1960s, Marlys Lindgren’s brother, Wallace, was in a fatal car accident. He…

Cher Baggett’s classroom was a barnyard…literally. Hay, pine chips, heat lamps, and chickens. The 4th-8th graders in her classroom spent several months in the spring of 2018 hatching chicks. On the other side of Dakota Memorial School (DMS), the on-campus school of Dakota…

We’ve been talking about trauma-informed care and trauma-sensitive classrooms for a long time at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. But, it can be difficult to grasp what exactly that means, and how to explain it. Trauma sensitivity is much more than…

Marlys Kunz remembers her father talking about Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch before it even existed. He was a pastor at a small congregation, St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Hannover, N.D. Marlys says, “Every once in a while there was a young…