True North Youth Ranch
A new home
Our clubs were entirely funded by local donations. Those were the days when we had an old cowboy boot on the table and every week someone stuffed cash in it. We never really figured out who did this! After these three fantastic years, the barn where we were located was sold and many of the club leaders relocated to other horse boarding facilities. We started looking for a place where True North would become incorporated and established as a youth ranch.
While searching for that “home base”, Tammy Cruz pursued training with another nationally recognized equine therapy association. She earned her certification as an equine specialist with the EAGALA model. (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association). In October of 2019, we found a rugged western barn in Putnam Valley, New York on 12 beautiful, although quite rocky acres. It took almost a year of sacrificial work on the barn and the fencing in order to prepare the property. We had much help from our local church and many donations to help us with this project. We began to look for therapy horses that could be trained for the program.
Within a few months some amazing horses were donated for use as team members with the work we intended to do. It became clear that though establishing ANY not-for-profit during a pandemic may have seemed like poor timing, it actually is exactly the right time to develop one for the hurting youth and families around us. As we look forward to returning to some normalcy in the year ahead, we yearn to reach out to many who are experiencing grief, anxiety and even depression from a lack of meaningful connection in the aftermath of this season of life. We fully expect that God will use True North Youth Ranch to heal the broken-hearted and inspire many to walk in newness of life!