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PAGE 18A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 23. 2010
Going, up home to jive in green pastures
Overcomer’s Outreach is a program designed for anyone
dealing with the ongoing process of recovery from addic
tions and/or compulsions. Overcomer’s Outreach utilizes the
tools of the truth of the Bible, mutual support and the tradi
tional 12-step recovery format. The meetings will be held at
cou E nceu°c!^ter E the Bread of Life Ministry Center on Monday evenings
beginning on October 11, 2010.
Grief in the Holidays is a one-day event planned for October 30, 2010. This
special 2 Vi hour event (10:00 AM - 12:30 PM) will focus on strategies for deal
ing with grief during the holiday season. Also, a new monthly grief support
group called Getting a Hold on Grief is forming at this time. Bread of Life
Ministry Center in Pickens County is located on the property of Foothills
Community Church in Marble Hill. There is no fee for any of these opportuni
ties, donations are appreciated. For more information please leave a message
for Garry at 706-692-7960.
"Located in the Parking Lot of
Purnt Mountain trading Co!'
The Gathering cuts ribbon
Pickens County Chamber of Commerce welcomes The Gathering: A Community Worship Center.
They held their Ribbon Cutting on Sunday, September 12, at their Worship Center located off Hwy
515 at 735 Martin Road in Jasper. The Gathering believes that a true community watches out for one
another, supports each other in difficult times, celebrates good times, and more. They are a place where
everyone is accepted and feels a sense of belonging. They welcome you to visit and see if this is the
place for you. They offer Sunday school at 9:30 a.m. and worship service at 10:30 a.m. They also have
teen services on Wednesday evenings at 6:45 p.m. and a Sunday Evening service at 5:30 p.m. The
Chamber of Commerce is excited to have this member in our community.
emlcf Met Muei
Good Shepherd Ranch
now ready in west Pickens
By Jeff Warren
Down a dirt road and just past
a tall, arched gateway, you see
the house, its wide front porch
granting a welcome. Just a year
old, this 5,000-square-foot home
for troubled boys amounts to
"Phase I" of the Good Shepherd
Ranch in west Pickens County.
"John Smith donated the land,
36 acres. And he built this
home," said Jean Cole, executive
director at Good Shepherd. Since
early 2010, Cole has worked to
gain required licensing from the
Georgia Department of Human
Resources, the license needed
before you can operate such a fa
cility. Cole said she expects the
group home at Good Shepherd
Ranch to be up and running this
autumn.
“It took me from the first of
February to last Saturday [Sep
tember 11] to get the license,”
she said. “That was a major un
dertaking.”
The ranch will serve as a
place where troubled children
and youth can come to live for
the long haul, a place to re-find
their way through life. "We want
to be long-term in the care we
provide for troubled kids," Cole
said. "The court can place them
here. Also DFACS and private
placement," she explained.
With any private placement, a
parent or guardian moves a child
to the ranch so they can work
through behavioral problems un
manageable at home.
Temporary placement of chil
dren from troubled homes by the
courts or DFACS can't exceed 12
months, Cole explained. By one
year in, such children are cus
tomarily moved to foster care,
she said. Cole said the ranch is to
serve clients who are not candi
dates for foster care.
"We're taking boys that are
more behaviorally challenged
than a foster home can deal
with," she said. "We're licensed
for six."
When the goal set by DFACS
is to see the child reunited with
their parent or parents, the ranch
will work with the child and fam
ily to accomplish that goal, rely
ing on help from a professional
counselor, Cole explained. The
ranch will eventually have a
hired counselor on site for that
purpose, she said. The counselor
will also be available full-time,
so any resident can seek help
from the counselor as needed, in
the same way a school student
can speak to a counselor as they
need to.
"We're faith-based," Cole said
of the ranch. "We will have com
mitted long-term house parents
who will show these boys that
through Jesus Christ they can ac
complish anything."
House parents will be a mar
ried couple who live in the group
Welcome aboard!—Good Shepherd Ranch founder, Jim Smith, standing with Executive
Director Jean Cole, waves a greeting from the front porch of the facility’s new group home
in west Pickens County. Cole said she expects the home to be housing residents this autumn.
home with residents. A relief set
of house parents stands in when
full-timers take time off, Cole
explained. State law requires a
weekend off per month for house
parents and one 24-hour break
weekly. Usually house parents
pair that day off with their
monthly weekend away to make
it a three-day escape. Cole said.
When finished, the ranch will
have flower gardens and veg
etable gardens well-stocked with
dutiful chores for instilling a
sense of responsibility among
residents, Cole said. "They can
take care of the horses. They can
join FFA or Ag Tech at school
and raise animals for show [at
home on the ranch]. We're want
ing to show them how God can
love them," she said.
Phase II of the ranch is to in
clude a lake, pastures, an eques
trian area, more group homes
(some for girls eventually), a
school and chapel.
Eighty-four years old, Good
Shepherd's founder and benefac
tor, John Smith, lives nearby. His
house, with fenced pasture
acreage and some horses, stands
beside Carlan Road near the
Jerusalem Community Center.
Raised in Barrow County, Smith
still maintains a career in resi
dential development and con
struction.
Asked about the ranch lake
coming in Phase II, Smith said,
"I've got the equipment to build
it myself, dozers and all. It prob
ably won't be but eight acres, I
guess. See, the children can use
my lake and my pasture [nearby]
'til we get that one built," Smith
said. "I've got five horses."
Without government con
tracts at present, the ranch de
pends on corporate and
individual donations. Contribu
tions can be made on-line
through the ranch’s website
(www.thegoodshepherdranch.or
g). To learn about other means of
contributing, you can phone Di
rector Jean Cole at 706-337-
2728. Right now two collection
drives are underway: one to fill
the group home pantry; a second
to generate school supplies for
use by residents.
For the second, Cole said,
"We're looking for just the basic
school supplies: loose-leaf paper;
spiral notebooks; pens; pencils;
rulers; three-ring binders; book
bags."
For the time being, ranch res
idents will ride the school bus.
"We're gonna send them to pub
lic school now," Cole said, "but
hopefully we will have our own
on-site school in coming years.
That is one of our goals."
For food drive items, Cole
listed "canned vegetables, things
like green beans and peas and
com; dried beans - red beans,
pinto beans, whatever; tomato
sauce; canned tomatoes; spices.
We're looking for condiments,"
she added. "Spaghetti sauces are
good. Spaghetti's a big meal in a
group home."
The range top in the group
home's kitchen has five stove
eyes, Cole noted. "It has one real
big one in the middle for a big
soup pot," she said.
Cole said the vision for The
Good Shepherd Ranch is to pro
vide a safe, loving, nurturing
home environment through
structure, stability, nourishment
and the teaching of Godly ways
for dealing with individual prob
lems youth face. Big on kids,
ranch founder, Smith, has three
children, eight grandchildren,
eight great grandchildren "and
one on the way," he said.
"I've always loved kids," he
said, "and especially when you
think about children we'd say are
less fortunate than we are, you
maybe see they get caught in the
system. This has been on my
heart for a long time," Smith said
of opening the ranch. "But it's
taken 'til now for God to open the
door. Sometimes you don't do
something until He opens the
door."
From where Smith stands
now, that door is open. Looking
through it, he still dreams young
to a place where tomorrow has a
future and a hope.
Restoring
Teens and Famines
annual Joy House
©otf Tourname/j,
When: Wednesday October 6th, 2010
Where: Bent Tree
Registration beginnning at 11:00 am
Lunch beginning at 11:30 am
Shotgun Start at 1:00 pm
For sponsorship, registration, and detailed informa
tion please go to www.thejoyhouse.org and click on
Golf Tournament in Upcoming Events or contact
Steve at 706-253-7569 or
email steve@thejoyhouse.org.
Join us for a great round
of golf to bring hope and
healing to the teens and
families we serve
APPEARING SOON
Sunday, October 3
6:00 PM
Admission is free. A free will
offering will be received.
1036 N. Main
Jasper, GA
706.692.6315
www.mtzionjasper.org
Street Market
Saturday, Sept 25th
10am until...
£)rougnt to you du:
Jasper ]Jrugs & (jifts and
£)urnt f\4° un tain ~]~rading (J°-