Dedication of Karen Roth Home

Sunday August 24th was a celebration of what can happen when a group of people decide that they are going to change the world one child at a time. The dedication of the Karen Roth Home was one of six eventual homes that we Will have at the Ranch.

The Ranch was fortunate to have many of Karen’s Family travel from all over the country to share the special day with the community of volunteers at the Ranch.
It was an emotional day as people shared what the ranch meant to them. In addition to speeches given by Executive Director Ron Coppess, Board President Steve Barnum and Ranch Co-Founder and Board Secretary Richard Coppess the Ranch was also fortunate to have State Representatives Brian Calley,(87th District) and Rick Jones (71st District) share their support for the Ranch. Brian Calley and Rick Jones represent the area from where Sunny Crest will be getting the Ranchers from. They shared with our guests our Sunny Crest will be able to fill a very much needed void in the area and help to give kids and parents a chance for a better life.
Randy Roth, the husband of Karen, also shared with us his thanks to all of those who donated their time talent and treasures to help accomplish the reality of the Sunny Crest Youth Ranch. I think that Ron Coppess said it best when he said:

“All of this happened because Karen Roth and the Foundation took a chance on the SCYR. Will people remember your good looks, your wealth, the position that you have held in 100 years? No, but they will remember is you made a difference in the life of a child. Karen Roth will be remembered!”

Thank you to all those who helped making yet another successful event at the Sunny Crest Youth Ranch.

Kellogg Foundation Lends a Helping Hand

On Wed July 23, 10 employees of the Kellogg Foundation spent the day volunteering at the Ranch. With direction and guidance from Randy Blair of Blair Landscaping of Woodland the volunteers from Kellogg were able to completely landscape the first house with the plants donated by Blair Landscaping and Van Neste Landscape Nursery in Mulliken. It was a day of hard work, but the exterior of the house was transformed from a work site to an oasis. Ron thought that we had easily received over $10,000.00 in landscape work.

The biggest surprise of the day was the attendance of Dr. Foster. Dr. Foster, in addition to being the Vice President of Programs at the Kellogg Foundation, is one of the best post hole diggers that we have ever seen. In addition we received a lot of good feedback on the progress that has taken place at the ranch. I think we can count on continued support from the Kellogg Foundation.

Thank you for all your hard work!

House Warming Party Huge Success!

On Monday the 21st A house warming party was thrown for the boys of the first home. There were and estimated 85 people in attendance. It was nice to get the community of Ranch Partners together and show them the results from the hard working volunteers this summer. It is really starting to look like a home.

As always people were very generous with gifts and time. Our gift registry from Bad Bath and Beyond was all most sold out and we received some gift baskets and decor from So Simply in Lake Odessa. One of the biggest surprises was a recliner donated by Mapes Furniture of Sunfield. The recliner was part of the design plan that Mapes Furniture developed for the first house.

By the end of next week we should be mostly finished with the first home. If anyone is interested in volunteering there are still many things that we need to accomplish:

Painting
Staining and Varnishing
Trim work
Grouting Tile
Rubbish Removal
Landscaping and Mowing
Dedication Event Planning
Mass Mailings
etc.......

If you are interested in helping out email Michael Cook or
michael@sunnycrestyouthranch.org

House Warming Party

On Monday July 21st at 7:00pm a house warming party is being thrown for the first Ranchers of Sunny Crest. It is going to be held at the, soon to be completed, first house.

Please come and join us to see the progress that has been made over the last several weeks and months. We are going to be giving tours of the buildings and grounds as well as sharing refreshments and fellowship.

If you are interested in purchasing a gift the Ranch is registered at the following:

Bed Bath and Beyond: First Name: SunnyCrest Last Name: SunnyCrest

So Simply of Lake Odessa

Mapes Furniture of Sunfield

Richards Brand Source of Charlotte

Please bring gifts unwrapped but tagged with your name so that we can identify who the gift is from.

Look forward to seeing you there.

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.

Tractor Donated to the Ranch

A tractor is one of those essential tools that we thought that we would have to go with out for a long while at the Ranch. That is until Jim Farman, a long time Ranch Partner, called Ron on Monday and told him that a friend wanted to donate one his tractor to the Ranch.

Tom Studt, who is a consultant and owns a nursery near Gull Lake, generously donated his 1979 Model 5030 Allis Chalmers to the Ranch, and even delivered it. When he started it up to off load it from the trailer I was impressed by how well it ran. Tom said that he tuned it up for us that day and that if we ever have any problems with it to give him a call and he could help us out.

Before Tom left he walked the Ranch with Ron and I. As we walked I reflected on the progress we have made since this time last year. We did not even have the road in at this time last year, it is nothing short of amazing. This miracle has been in a large part performed by many of the donations of time, talent and treasure from all of our Ranch Partners.

Sunny Crest thanks Tom and his family for their generous and thoughtful donation.

Blog Launch for Sunny Crest Youth Ranch

We have decided to start our own blog. Every week, and sometimes every day, there are small miracles that happen on the Ranch and it has been impossible to keep all the Ranch Partners informed of them all. We thought a blog would be the best way to keep everyone up to date on life at the Ranch. So this is our soft launch, by the end of the week we will post an update of some of the events that have taken place at the Ranch this Spring.

Please provide feedback if you have questions or comments about our posts.

Thank you.