On Monday of this week, I was in the nutrition center with Sydney when one of our girls came up. She had been one of the first girls Sydney had interacted with and had seen Sydney learn, while she herself was healing. They have a special friendship.…
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Yesterday at lunch I sat down next to a child I hadn’t met as he has only been with us for five days. He’s a handsome child—dark eyes, dark hair, those kinds of gangly limbs kids get in their teenage years. He looked at me through too-long bangs.…
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch will receive $4,000 from the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, Oregon District during the 2022-2024 biennium to support its Spiritual Life programming. Funds will be used to update lighting fixtures in the Kruse Memorial Chapel on its Minot, ND campus, part of an overall renovation of the chapel.…
The Midco Foundation granted $1,000 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch to do safety upgrades on its Bismarck campus. Specifically, funds will be used to update the fire alarm system.…
When I first came to the Ranch and learned this, it surprised me. Here are kids with all different kinds of trauma-related behaviors. Some have attention deficit issues, others deal with anger or noise triggers, and others are uncomfortable in groups. They may be depressed or anxious or struggle with bipolar or schizophrenia diagnoses. They have seen much in their young lives. Yet, they like old, boring, low-tech Bingo.…
Anyone who has worked in any kind of workplace has been approached to purchase “stuff” from the children of co-workers. Boy Scout popcorn, Girl Scout cookies, wrapping paper, butter braids, and raffle tickets. You name it, I’ve bought it. Actually, one of my life rules is, “Buy what kids are selling.”…
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch will receive $4,488.11 from the Minot Area Community Foundation. Funds for the grant were made possible through The Mike & Dorothy Dolan Fund. The granted funds will be used to purchase a financial literacy program for Dakota Memorial School, the on-campus school of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch.…
Yes, some of the children at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch have “gotten into trouble.” One hundred percent of the kids at the Ranch have endured some sort of trauma.…
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch will receive $5,000 from the Minot Community Endowment Fund, a component of the North Dakota Community Foundation. Funds will be used to upgrade the lighting fixtures in the riding arena on the Ranch’s Minot, ND campus.…
One of the great tenets of working with trauma survivors is, “Never ask what is wrong with the child. Instead, ask what happened to the child.” A child who has survived trauma will have developed ways to survive. Once they are out of the painful situation, they still rely on those maladaptive skills.…
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch will receive $2,072 from the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, California-Nevada-Hawaii District during the 2022-2024 biennium to support the Music Ministry on its Minot campus.…
What he realized, he said, was that life wasn’t a cohesive, well-put-together journey. The stories came out of order and at unexpected times. They didn’t necessarily build on each other, but rather stood alone as life lessons.…
One of the hardest questions Ranch children ask is “Why did this happen to me?” They want to give meaning to the abuse, violence, molestation, or neglect they have experienced. They want us to explain the purpose of the personal war they have been in.…
Jim Vetter, Vice President of Treatment Services and Government Relations, Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, is the 2022 recipient of the Walt Odegaard Leadership Award, presented by the North Dakota Association of Nonprofit Organizations (NDANO).…
She recently started a lecture series to train Ranch staff on some of the mental health diagnoses we see more frequently in the children who come to us. The first session was on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). With a wide range of staff expertise and training in her audience, she used many analogies to help each person understand. The one I will hang on to when I am trying to explain the behavior and reactions of our children is her analogy about trauma behaviors being, “like wearing a winter coat on a Florida beach.”…
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch received two $1,000 grants from local high school students at Central Cass and Barnesville High School through the Barry Foundation’s Philanthropy and Youth program.…
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch will receive $3,000 from the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, Kansas District during the 2022-2024 biennium to support its Spiritual Life programming. Funds will be used to update lighting fixtures in the Kruse Memorial Chapel on its Minot, ND campus, part of an overall renovation of the chapel.…
The Otter Tail Corporation Foundation awarded $8,500 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, Fargo, to furnish a Balanced Learning Environment in the Library/Media room in Dakota Memorial School, the on-campus school of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch.…
The best part for me, however, was getting to spend time with these heroes in the background. I heard them express how when they are making decisions they think about how it will feel to the kids. They reflected on meals that brought joy to particular children. They talked about fixing damage in walls made by a child too angry for words and spoke with compassion about wanting to do repairs quickly. They spoke of children by name, and about problem-solving with program and education staff. They laughed. We prayed.…
Eight amazing young people graduated last week from Dakota Memorial School, the on-site school of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch! What a great opportunity to celebrate them! Each and every one of them has overcome so much to take that walk while “Pomp and Circumstance” echoes around them. Every year I get all teary-eyed as the kids walk in.…
We do a whole lot of training at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. Each of us goes through days of standard and specific training every year. The training ranges from basic first aid and defensive driving to organizational communications and understanding complicated psychiatric diagnoses in children.…
Verendrye Electric Cooperative awarded $2,500 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch to upgrade the lighting fixtures in the Riding Arena on its Minot campus.…
...the successes and accolades are because we know how to "personalize" education. In her words, "not just individualize, but personalize." Marcia believes deeply in showing respect for each child. She talks about children by name. She knows their strengths. She knows their challenges. She is a strong proponent of trauma-sensitive education. She and her team, in all ways, are child-centered. Because of that, at Dakota Memorial School, the on-campus school of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, "we help at-risk children and their families succeed in the name of Christ."…
One thing newer staff have trouble adjusting to at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch is the number of nicknames and replacement names the kids ask us to use.…
“I never thought I’d really be able to tell the stories that are in my imagination.” That was the excitedly delivered message from one of our high school art students as he presented his work to a group of Ranch employees.…