Youth Ranch Kids Help Single Mother Teens Raise Nearly $300 For Woman, Two Children

For 12 teenagers who’ve been down on their luck in the past, helping a single mother give her two children a merry Christmas is all they wanted this holiday. Memories of waking up on Christmas morning with no presents under the tree, no food on the table and no father at home made the decision to help an easy one.

“Everybody here feels for them since a lot of us have been there ourselves,” said Josh, a 16-year-old living in a lodge at the Idaho Youth Ranch, a rehabilitation center for juvenile offenders.

Names of those involved have not been made public, at the request of the Idaho Youth Ranch.

Since October, the boys have been doing odd jobs in the community and around the ranch to raise money for the mother.

The teenagers raised almost $300 for the woman and her two children, whose names also were not made public.

Christmas Eve, they delivered to her doorstep the food, gifts and other items they bought. “It gave us a chance to work together as a group and I think it has helped bring us closer together,” said Tye, 15.

The idea came from the boys, who all wanted to give something back to the community to make up for some of their wrongdoings.

The boys left food and gifts on the mother’s doorstep with no note. Receiving thanks for their efforts wasn’t part of the plan, they said. “We did this for her, not ourselves,” said Isaac, 15. “It was about putting other people’s needs before our wants.”

Administrators at the ranch work from the start to help troubled teens develop respect for others, but it isn’t always easy.

“It takes a lot of cooperation from them that they aren’t used to,” said Mark Andreasen, a team leader at the ranch. “A big part of our program is based on increasing their feeling of worthiness, and when they start helping others like this, it makes it that much harder for them to commit crimes against them later.”

Andreasen said most teens who come to the ranch are sent there by a judge. Most are repeat offenders who have committed serious crimes.

During their stay, they live in a lodge with 11 other teens and attend school at the ranch. Most stay for about a year.

A big part of counselor Tony Rice’s job is getting the teens to work together, which is why he wants to see more of what he witnessed this Christmas.

“I can’t say enough about what those 12 boys did for that woman,” Rice said. “They put a lot of free time and sweat into earning that money and it was a positive experience for everyone.”