Every Child Should Inherit Hope

Heritage Ranch Aims to Help Baton Rouge Children in Crisis With Youth Programs and a New Residential Facility

By Sean Griffin, Neighbors Magazine

When she was 14, V icki Ellis and a group she was traveling with stopped to visit Wears Valley Ranch in Sevierville , Tenn. Although a mere teen, Ellis was instantly inspired by the founders goal of helping yo uth in crisi s .

From this was born Ellis’ plan for the future Heritage Ranch residential facility which will be dedicated to teaching life skills to troubled youth.

Heritage Ranch was incorporated in 2003 as a not-for-profit organization and began teaching life skills to youth in 2006. Ellis want ed to offer Baton Rouge children the same help as the leaders of Wears Valley Ranch were providing in Tennessee .

While she hopes the future residential facility will encourage troubled youth to learn important life skills, Ellis said her staff has already been teaching “life skills” classes and started running a camp last summer.

Life Skills

“Each camp is a week long and free to the young people who participate,” she said. “We incorporate life skills such as teaching kids to understand the impact of their decisions.”  The camp is aimed at 10-14- year - old children and teaches the m about hea lthy choices, career opportunities, I nternet safety and even safe relationships.

The camps host about 25 children for each session. This year’s camps will be held in downtown Baton Rouge and Heritage Ranch partners with First United Methodist Church for a camp in West Feliciana .

In addition, throughout the school year Heritage Ranch has been teaching its “life skills” classes to the students at Valley Park Alternative School and West Feliciana Alternative School since 2006. Ellis said hundreds of students have attended the classes.

Facility Planning

Plans for the Heritage Ranch facility are being made, and Ellis said she has been seeking out possible building sites. The ranch could be built within the next 18 months when they are able to secure land.

“Heritage Ranch continues to focus its efforts to secure land in West Feliciana; however, we have recently expanded our search criteria in order to progress in securing land and building our much needed facility for community youth and families,” Ellis said.  

Princeton Bardwell, board chairman of Heritage Ranch , said the children in the program benefit because it is modeled after “successful residential programs in other parts of the country that are proven to be very effective.” He said the program is already serving East Baton Rouge and West Feliciana Parish es .

“Soon we will be building our residential facility to house up to 56 young people on a campus in the country that will provide the environment for growth,” Bardwell said.

Residential Facility

Ellis said the residential facility will have a staff couple that is husband and wife. They will be a model for th e children and show what it’s like to have a functioning family.

“The kids will have dinner in the house, there will be an allowance, chores, in t eracting with the other kids in the home,” Ellis said. “ They experience what a family environment looks like. ”

There will also b e a campus education cent er that will provide additional assistance outside of the public school environm ent. “ We want to challenge them and work through any components that would keep them from being successful ,” Ellis said.

Social Work

Ellis worked at Wears Valley as an intern and then attended Louisiana State University for her bachelor’s and master’s degree s in social work. S he began researching about southeast Louisiana and “ saw that there were great facilities for kids who were already in crisis but not many for those children who were on their way.”

Ellis said she also felt Loui siana ’s statistics indicated the need to encourage better life skills in a child’s upbringing.

“ Louisiana is 49 th in child well-being and that’s one of the areas that we as a state have to revamp and focus on,” Ellis said.

Having dealt with her own personal crisis, abuse as a child, Ellis said she was struck by the need to provide a supportive environment for troubled youth. She wants the ranch to encourage hope for the children.

Goals

The motto of Heritage Ranch states that “every child should inherit hope.” To encourage this goal, Ellis wants a facilit y that can help children become “better citizen s ” and work with families to encourage all- around growth.

“When you change one kid in the family unit, then you can change that entire family unit, and you impact every part of society that is connected to that family unit,” Ellis said. “ We want to challenge them and make them work through any components that would keep them from being successful. ”

For more information or to volunteer, contact Vicki Ellis at 302- 7932 or visit www.hrbr.org .

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