Freedom Ranch Life Skill Camp

Many foster children are never adopted and do not return to their families before they age out of foster care (turn 18).  Many of the these teens leave the foster care system with no skills, no resources, and no idea how to lead a successful life.  Seeker Springs and the Office of Community Services partnered together with many local churches, businesses, education institutions, and individuals to offer a camp to these kids to help them with this process. Each skill area was presented in a very hands on experiental fashion and the students rotated between the following stations:
Career/Education Fair:  The case managers for these kids went over and above to help each child fill out a career interest survey so that the camp could be personalized for each child.  Volunteers were recruited to match the career interest of the students and formed a job/education fair in the gym. The students spent time talking to the volunteers about their job or educational opportunity.  Each student was taught to fill out a resume, job application, and was given a mock interview.
Financial Skills:  ULM professor, Melissa Melancon, and her students partnered with BankCorp South to offer a class for the students to learn about banking, credit, budgeting, and more...
Relationship Skills:  Horses were used to help students understand about how to develop relationships with others without force or abuse.  They learned to ride and also how to interact with the horses.  At the end the students were able to go on a trail ride.  The ride was used as a metaphor for the step they are about to take out into real life.
Coping Skills:  The Ropes Challenge Course allowed students to be presented with different challenges and they had to learn to work together as a team to overcome the challenge.  It taught skills such as responsibility, perserverance, anger managment, problem solving, and teamwork.

Students were also allowed to choose several  track times such as fishing, crafts, scrapbooking, rocking and relaxing, basketball, Truth about sex and dating, How to pray and connect with God, etc.

The highlight of the camp was the many speakers that came and shared about their lives during and after foster care.  We were blessed to have several speakers:
Tim Lee, teacher and pastor. Tim shared his life growing up in and out of the foster care system and how God is using that time in his life to help him help others.
Michael Garrett, Ex. Director, Homes of Hope for Children.  Dr. Garrett shared with the children how his life growing up in a Children's Home has inspired him to start a children's home of his own in Hattisburg, MS.
Christy:  Christy has only been out of foster care for one year. She spoke to the students openly about the struggles that she has faced and encouraged students to take in any of the information they received this weekend.  You could have heard a pin drop as she spoke.
Also, Lamar Lagrone, Director of Freedom Ranch, shared his testimony of how God has helped him overcome many struggles.  Kids love Lamar and he can connect with them so easily. 

To find out more about  Ranch Camps click here:  RANCH CAMPS

Sponsors:
Gold: Jr. League of Monroe and Van Trow Toyota
Bronze: FAIR Visions, Community Trust Bank, First West, First Presbyterian- Monroe
And many other businesses, churches, and individuals that sponsored kids!