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VALLEY CENTER, Kan. (AP) — Construction is expected to conclude this fall on an expansion at a south-central Kansas ranch that will allow it to serve more at-risk boys without fathers.
The Youth Horizons ranch near Valley Center currently has 12 boys in its residential program, and they are taught such things as personal hygiene, caring for animals and how to behave in front of women, The Wichita Eagle (http://bit.ly/1DHzxOy ) reported.
Youth Horizons started as a faith-based program in the late 1980s out of a small house near Wichita, but the nonprofit's president, Earnest Alexander, wanted to have the boys live on a ranch. Private donations helped the Klinoch Price Boys Ranch open about eight years ago, with a goal to have four houses on the 80-acre property.
Two houses have been built so far, and work on the final two is scheduled to finish in November. It will allow the organization to be able to serve up to 32 boys in its residential program.
Alexander said $1.5 million of the $2 million needed for the project has been raised, and that the organization is now trying to match a $250,000 grant by September's end.
Many of the program's participants have battled neglect and abuse or have struggled after years in the foster care system.
"A lot of times someone has been in the system so long that it's bred bitterness and discontent in their heart and a longing to be loved," house parent Joshua Furthmeyer said. "The one thing we do not want to be is a baby-sitting facility or a holding tank for children. ...We desire for change."
A day on the ranch begins at 5:30 a.m., and they feed and water the goats and chicken and tend to a garden. They give the animals shots, care for them when they're sick or injured and learn how to handle the animals' deaths.
"Sometimes we get kids in who struggle with anger and violence, and when they get the opportunity to see an animal that's friendly and has no intentions of harming them, they build bonds with the goats," Furthmeyer said.
The boys take online classes during the school year and after completing the program, which is provided by the Valley Center school district, they earn a high school diploma.
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Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com
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