UPS Day of Caring

"What can Brown do for you"? This familiar phrase took on new meaning on Saturday June 21. Eleven hardworking UPSers spent their morning volunteering at the ranch. Instead of the usual brown trucks, clipboards and packages, the tools of the day were pitchforks, rakes and shovels. Wes Fowler, Alvin Brooks, Mark Biener, Alex Jones, Joanne Schaffer, Cindy Keiffer along with Dan and Denise Parks and their children Mahrley, David and Joseph worked to make the grounds surrounding the ranch and house look top notch. Weeds were pulled, wood chips spread and lawn areas were seeded. The hours spent by these generous volunteers will go a long way in helping the SCYR qualify for a upcoming grant being offered by UPS. As one of the shirts worn by the workers read...."United as One... Making a Difference" This certainly holds true for both UPS and The Sunny Crest Youth Ranch. After the Saturday "Day of Caring" the hours spent by all volunteers tops 6000.

Project Serve 2008 on the Ranch

Sunny Crest was chosen to host a Project Serve mission trip by the Tri-County Youth For Christ. The group brought nearly 20 high school aged youth from the Saginaw area to spend five days working on the ranch.

Throughout the week the group planted lawn, created stone scape, painted the office and house, made a hitching post, built a deck, constructed a bridge over the creek, dug trenches for drain tile, mulched trees, pulled weeds, and mowed grass.

The work that was accomplished was a huge shot in the arm for the Ranch. Check out the video below, it can tell the story better than I can...

Thank you to all of the volunteers who hosted the group at their house, baked cookies, prepared meals, donated equipment, and served as project leaders. With your help Project Serve at the Ranch was a huge success.

A Spring Clean from Local 4th Grade Class

On Monday June 2nd the 4th Grade Class of Mrs. Coppess, from West Elementry in Lake Odessa, dropped by the Ranch to do some spring cleaning. Earlier in the year the whole school took part in a Change War that raised over $2000.00 to purchase six twin beds for the Ranch from Richards Brand Source in Charlotte.

In the two hours that they spent at the Ranch they toured the buildings and cleaned up the basement of the The Roth Home. The class picked up and bagged debris and swept up nails and saw dust left from a winters construction. They really rolled up their sleeves and were excited to help out even though they had to miss morning math.

Thank you to all Mrs. Coppess' 4th Graders, and have a great summer!!!!!!!

Kitchen Cabinets Donated by the Kerr's

When Hudson and Darcy Kerr of Sunfield remodeled their kitchen they could not stand the thought of throwing out their old appliances and custom cabinets. The cabinets were hand made by the previous owner and his father. Darcy, who has been a very strong advocate for the ranch and has served on several successful committees, contacted us wondering if we may be able to recycle them for use at the ranch.
We, of course were blown away by the generosity and when we installed the cabinets in the office kitchen it seemed like the cabinets were custom made for our space as well. Were were also able to place some of the cabinets in the bathroom. This donation has saved us thousands of dollars, and is a higher quality than anything we could have ever hoped for. Also they are in such good shape recent visitors could not even tell that they were used.
The above picture is of the cabinets installed in our kitchen with Darcy Kerr on the right standing with board members Michael Cook and Denise Parks.

Thank you Darcy and Hudson

2nd Annual Sunny Crest Ranch Golf Outing

Pushing up the Sunny Crest Golf Outing to the 30th of May proved to be a recipe for success. Nearly 20 teams enjoyed the luxurious facilities and lush fairways of Willow Wood Golf Club in Portland during the 2nd Annual Sunny Crest Golf Outing.

It was a very competitive 4 person scramble but there were some very exceptionable scores recorded on Friday. The top 5 scores were:

1. Neithammer Farms -15

2. Belting Team -12

3. Barnett Team -9

4. Roth Family -9

5. Hanna Team -8

There were some exciting prizes won during the day including a golf bag won by Chuck Bonnell. No one was able to sink a hole-in-one on the 9th to win the the car donated by Vollman Ford of Portland, and Doane Insurance Agency of Lake Odessa.

It never ceases to amaze us the level of support that our Ranch Partners bring to events like these. We also noticed a lot of new faces which tells us that the news is beginning to spread and reach a larger audience.

We also want to thank our donors who generously donated signs and raffle items:

The Parks Family
thebarbequestore.com
Architectural Metals of Portland
Union Bank of Lake Odessa
Mark Woodman Plumbing & Heating of Sunfield
JBE of Grand Rapids
Lee & Ruth Anne Stuart
Menards of Lansing
Blair Landscape of Woodland
Firstbank of Sunfield
Richard’s Appliance Brand Source of Charlotte
Robin Chase Insurance Agency of Lake Odessa
Jerry’s Tire of Lake Odessa
j-ad Graphics of Hastings
JMB Builders of Grand Rapids
C. R. Barnett MD of Lake Odessa
Big Boy Restaurant of Charlotte
Dornbos Signs, Inc. Charlotte
The Roth Family
Americana Auction of Sunfield
American Farm Mortgage of Woodland
Blue Water Electric of Pewamo
Seese Well Drilling of Clarksville
Quality Hardwoods of Sunfield
Customhome Interiors of Charlotte
John Fisk/Paragon Die of Lake Odessa
Sunfield Coffee Co. of Sunfield
The Gavel Restaurant of Charlotte
The County Journal of Charlotte
Reidy’s Pizza of Charlotte & Potterville
Edwards Industrial Sales Inc. of Kalamazoo
Rasey’s Enterprises, Inc. of Nashville
The Ferris Family
Doane Insurance Agency of Lake Odessa
Timothy A. Spitzley, Architects LLC
of Lake Odessa
The Coppess Group of Byron Center
JDE Equipment Co. of Grand Rapids

Thank you to all of our donors, participants and volunteers who helped to make the 2nd Annual Sunny Crest Youth Ranch Golf Outing a great Success.