Making Great Progress For the Kids
Thank You To Our Donors
Because of the successful matching program, we have been able to add 6 more children to our therapy family ! We are still very busy helping children to get the medical surgeries they need in the United States.
Our matching campaign raised 50,000 dollars!!!! We have NEVER had this amount of blessing in 25 years! In the past several months, 6 more children were accepted to cross the border! The money raised will now allow us to bring Melinna home to us!. She was featured in our summer newsletter. More on here below.
The newly started projects at the ranch can now be completed sooner than expected. You just can’t out-give God. One step at a time, we will be more equipped to help in ways we could not before. We have 2 children needing expensive eye surgeries, and others needing expensive testing and glasses to improve their vision.
New Concrete Pathways are a Blessing!
We are so excited to have new concrete paths to allow the kids to move between the portables. These paths connect the 5 portable buildings and the main therapy area. They allow some of our more challenged children to move independently from building to building. This is especially helpful for kids with walkers and braces who will no longer have to push themselves through the dirt. An additional bonus is that they are being installed before the winter rains so that our newly remodeled portable classrooms stay clean!
Without a path some kids struggle to get their walker wheels to roll over rocks and holes in dirt streets. Thanks for making the journey smoother!
The children with limited mobility can now move freely throughout the ranch! Whether they use a wheelchair, or a walker, or just have poor balance, the new concrete pathways offer a safe and fun way to travel to the different areas of therapy and school. Our dream of 100 percent accessible has not been reached yet, but we are so much closer!
We Continue To Grow
The three new trailers are getting ready to be used. They all have stairs and ramps, they all have electricity with solar panels. All three of the trailers have been secured with the newly reinforced cement columns and have been welded in place. The broken ceiling panels have been replaced, and the therapy rooms are painted!
To some this image looks like a typical US Portable building but to us and our students it is nothing short of miraculous. Backup a few months in time to see how much better they are.
Classrooms arrived on site in two pieces with leaking roofs and significant damage from the trip as well as defacement in their prior location. They needed new foundations, interior repair, roof repair, electricity, water, sewer, ramps and stairs just to get started. This photo may help to demonstrate the major improvements.
In addition to improving building infrastructure the grant also provided the necessary materials to create a comfortable, organized and engaging classroom.
Solar Brings the buildings to life!
Here are some photos of the infrastructure behind the scenes that makes these classrooms function so well –
It’s hard to remember how vital electricity is until you try to operate without it. We are grateful for the solar inverter and battery bank installed early in the remodel . I not only powers the entire building which serves the kids but also allowed us to use power tools during the remodel.
Ramps provide access and independence
Newly installed Wood access ramps and emergency exit stairs.
Concrete Foundations For Longevity
Poured Concrete Foundations Welded to the frame of the portable buildings create a stable structure into the future.
Special Needs Classrooms Expand
The result has been successful education of groups of special needs kids engaged in the classroom and instructed by a motivated and equipped teacher.
As more and more children come to the ranch, our class size is increasing. We are adding more days to our teacher Josefina’s week to meet the needs of a variety of children. Monday and Wednesday she sees children who are way behind for their age. Tuesday and Thursday she now works with autistic children who need very specialized structured programs. Our other instructor Rocio has her special classroom on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. She also sees autistic children in the afternoon and on Saturdays! These are very specialized sessions with a ratio of no more than 2 children to one teacher or therapist! Horse therapy and sensory interventions are incorporated in the session as well.
Our other instructor Rocio has her special classroom on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with as many as 6-7 children those days. She also sees autistic children in the afternoon and on Saturdays! All of this brings more cost of paying our staff, but God is providing for all our needs as the ministry grows!
Students have room to play interactive games in the classroom to the delight of our kids in wheelchairs.
Two Autistic Girls happy to be drawing with their teacher Josefina.
Our New Physical Therapy Room is Complete
After years of doing physical therapy outside under tarps in the elements it is a blessing from God to now have indoor facilities from which to serve the kids. We even have a skylight. What a luxury! Physical therapy is at the core of what we do at the ranch. Most kids have a physical or occupational therapy need in addition to their health and educational challenges. Having the tools to assist them is so helpful!
We Have a New Occupational Therapy Room Too
Right next door is the green walled occupational therapy room.
Two New Houses For Two Families
Our grateful thanks to the dedicated volunteers from Ebenezer Church in Georgia who worked with the Yugo foundation to built two homes for two families in need. Families trying to care for special needs kids really benefit from a stable and predictable home environment to have a shot at creating a nurturing environment for their kids. The loving hands that built these houses made a critical difference in helping these two families have hope and a foundation for future success.
House #1: Alexis and his parents standing in front of their new house. Alexis was born with Hydrocephalus and is receiving therapy from His Wings Ranch. Now the family lives close by in a home which provides a solid base so that they can work hard together with His Wings Ranch to provide Alexis with the care he needs.
House #2: Andres (in blue with blue hat) and his little sister Isabela (in pink) are in the His Wings Ranch school program. with teacher Josefina who has brought Andres up to grade level academically while also teaching Isabela. Their mother is standing between them with their father in blue just to Isabela’s right.
Kids helping Kids: In addition to providing critical housing the group spent time with the students at His Wings Ranch. It was heartwarming to watch the daughter of one of our Georgia based visitors help one of the ranch’s kids with cerebral palsy with her art project. Her Down’s syndrome was on display as a superpower connecting through care across cultures.
How To Help
Get in on the action. Make a difference either at the ranch or from home.
- Do you build?
- Do you have access to building materials?
- Do you have access to horse supplies?
- Do you know therapists?
- Are you an educator?
- Are you good with state side logistics?
- Do you have connections to wheelchairs or braces?
- Could you assist with medical needs?
Find which way of helping works best for you even if that means referring us to a friend who works in one of these areas . . .
Update on Our Family
Jaciel is now 14 and a very accomplished farm-hand! He can now confidently ride all of our horses, and is helping to train Sadie, our 6-month-old filly. He is doing very well in school.
Our local school has many temptations for Jaciel and given his background , he is afraid to follow in the footsteps of his biological family and not his Christian family. He feels safe at the ranch and at the church, but not at school. We are planning to take him out of the public school to finish completing his middle school education with Josefina. He then would like to go to the local high school, and then on to veterinary school!! For all that to happen, I am looking into some online classes for him to start learning about animals and prepare him for success at veterinary school.
Yoshira is at the very top to her nursing school class and is an excellent student as well as always willing to lend a hand with the daily chores. We are hoping to teach her how to drive soon!
We will soon be adding Melinna to the children who actually live at His Wings Ranch. Melinna has a very strong personality and has many needs physically, emotionally and spiritually. After asking God to provide for her complicated medical and emotional needs we have now peace knowing that we will be able to provide Melinna with transportation to dialysis three times a week and that we can now can provide the caregivers she needs! Melinna is very weak, and is unable to even sit up by herself like she used to be able to do .
Johnny and I plan to go to New Jersey to visit my family, Please pray for the young couple who will be staying here while we are gone.
Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Prayer Requests
As our numbers of children with autism increase, we need more volunteers to help with the horse therapy.
We are also searching for more trained professionals to partner with us to give the children a voice!
We still could use a van to help us bring multiple children to the ranch and bring more families to church with us.
Calling all professionals that can help us with our children on the spectrum and minister to all of our special needs parents!!
Praise Reports
Our Subaru is a huge blessing to get us over the rough terrain and safety back and forth from San Diego for donations.
Our group this week had a special needs parent with them and she did so much to encourage the moms who struggle. They blessed them with manicures and did a painting activity with them as the kids enjoyed time with the rest of the group. It showed me that the parents need just as much help if not more than the children.
We are very thankful that Alexis, Andres, and Emmanuel, all received new homes through our partnership with Yugo ministries!
Update on the Children
Since our last newsletter three children were forever helped with the surgeries they needed in San Diego with the Fresh start surgical gifts program.
We have added 3 more autistic children to the ranch, and we now serve over 45 children weekly with the different programs offered here at His Wings Ranch.
Christian received the care he needed in San Diego for his urinary tract deformities.
Ruth received the dental care she needed, and Yatziry was evaluated in San Diego and will return in November to receive her surgery to correct her urinary tract congenital defect and well.
We are in the process of getting 4 more children to the US for their medical miracles!
Nicole came back from Shriners Philadelphia after spending 4 months there and receiving three surgeries, therapy, and a new wheelchair and walker.
Valentina is in Shriner’s Philadelphia now, and we plan on visiting her when we are back east next week.
