Farm Credit Services of North Dakota is proud to announce it has awarded the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch Foundation $5,000 as a recipient of the Pat-NOW Community Fund (PNCF). The grant funds will help fund the Ranch’s Minot campus greenhouse project.
Representatives from Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch accepted the check in December, and will use the funds to support the costs of the greenhouse program. The Ranch’s Greenhouse Program provides agriculture education and experience to at-risk children, ages 10-18, who live at the Ranch.
Most of the children who come to the Ranch have never had the opportunity to care for and grow plants. We provide this experience to the youth through our summer Greenhouse Program and through school-year classes in horticulture and botany. Most of the children at the Ranch come from situations of abuse, neglect, and/or trauma. For many of them, gardening is a relaxing activity they can use as a "therapeutic tool" to deal with life challenges and stressors. Students working in our greenhouses communicate more often and with greater success. They learn and practice leadership skills, and learn techniques in small gardening that can transfer to a life-long skill and an increased interest in learning.
“Farm Credit is proud to provide grant funds to the Ranch for their greenhouse project,” says Claude Sem, CEO of Farm Credit Services of North Dakota. “We are excited to help them with this valuable project that will positively impact everyone involved.”
Farm Credit Services of North Dakota established the Pat-NOW Community Fund to assist in the implementation and development of projects in local communities and rural areas in western North Dakota. The Pat-NOW Community Fund is currently accepting applications for future funding requests. Interested parties can apply at farmcreditnd.com.
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch is a Christian residential treatment and educational center for children and their families. We help the most troubled, complicated and amazing kids by providing best-in-class psychiatric therapy and trauma-informed care, where we look kids in the eye, walk with them, and help them become their best selves. In addition to Residential Treatment Facilities in Fargo, Bismarck, and Minot, the Ranch provides Outpatient Psychiatric and Psychological Services, and Spiritual Life Programs. Our on-campus school, Dakota Memorial School (DMS), provides a personalized education for kids who have psychiatric, behavioral and trauma issues.