News & Info

Connie's Corner

Newsletter - February 2010

“The Thrill of Victory & the Agony of Defeat.” Win the ”Super Bowl Ring” or “Go for the Gold”. It’s NFL Super Bowl Season. I am a huge sports fan and have enjoyed watching the NFL play-off games. We never know who is going to win. We will have the exciting Winter Olympics to watch this month, too.

Sports and life have a lot in common. We must join a team, practice, train, work with a coach, have equipment, take risks, make quick decisions, have a game plan, compete, talk to the media, find sponsors and endorsements, and hopefully WIN!

This is exactly what we are doing with our Board of Directors, kids, volunteers, and staff at Valley Teen Ranch. Our team consists of employees, foster parents, kids, volunteers, and donors. We practice our manners, ethics, values, job duties, policies, and procedures every day. We have specific trainings for our staff every week. We work with our “coaches” whom we call supervisors, managers, and foster parents. The equipment we use consists of time, money, clothes, vehicles, food, insurance, text books, the Bible, and many other things. We take calculated risks every day in our relationships, conversations, and the activities we plan together. When a crisis occurs, we have to make quick decisions, consult with the team leader, and go for it. Every week we have team meetings to develop our game plan on how we are going to work with our kids; which strategy is working and which needs to change. At the end of the day we hope that we have more victories than defeats. We hope we called the right plays, played fairly with no penalties or “do over’s”, as well as planned our work and worked our plan.

This past weekend I ran into one of our former residents from Valley Teen Ranch who is now 23 years old. He is still practicing the things he learned at the ranch; stays in touch with the staff who worked with him and is very grateful for the time he spent working with us. He said he is a better person for being at the ranch. He wants to go on a mission trip to help other people. He feels like we helped him and he wants to help others. That’s a VICTORY in my opinion!

Today I would like you to consider how you can join our team to help vulnerable kids who are part of our Valley Teen Ranch family for a while. Our Board of Directors passed a budget this weekend that includes undesignated giving from people like YOU. Your gift of $10, $50, $100 or $500 will help us keep our game plan going forward this month. We are “Going for the Gold” and a “Super Bowl Ring” EVERY DAY.

Go for the Gold with us today,

Connie R. Clendenan, CEO Valley Teen Ranch

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