St. Jude’s Ranch reaches out to abused, neglected children

Saturday, Feb. 22, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

ONE abused and neglected child, early in his stay at St. Jude's Ranch for Children in Boulder City, refused to touch the many pets on the premises.

The facility's longtime director, Father Herbert Ward, asked the boy why he wouldn't pet a dog. The youth said he couldn't get attached because "you never know when it will have to be taken to the altar and have its heart cut out."

Dealing with children who have grown up in satanic cults -- and in other bizarre environments -- is nothing new to the Episcopalian priest, who in 1970 accepted the challenge of running the facility named for the patron saint of lost causes.

However, to Ward, who gave up a headmaster's post at a fine New Orleans school to come to Southern Nevada, none of St. Jude's children, who range from 5-18, are lost causes.

"My first week here, I did nothing but cry for many of these children," said Milli Clark, who late last year was appointed vice president of national communications for St. Jude's.

"Any horror story you can come up with about children, I can top it from what I've seen come in here. Often, the best thing that's ever happened to some of these children is that they were sent to St. Jude's."

Many of the children know little about conventional living conditions, having been brought up in poverty, and physical and mental abuse, Clark said.

One child told Ward that if St. Jude's ever had trouble meeting its food budget -- it costs $6,200 a month to feed the children, their adult cottage supervisors and the other staff -- he had learned a great recipe for preparing dog food while living with his brother and sister in a van in the desert.

Another child said he would have no trouble after he left St. Jude's because he would simply go on welfare like his parents, his parents' parents and his parents' parents' parents.

Still another child at the facility told of how he suffered a broken nose after asking his father a question. The man had become agitated because he was interrupted while trying to watch a television program.

The organization operates not only the Boulder City ranch, 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas, but also a smaller facility in Bulverde, Texas, outside San Antonio.

The 40-plus-acre Boulder City facility, located on the rocky foothills above Lake Mead, has grown significantly in recent years.

In 1980, the annual budget for the local St. Jude's was $265,000 compared with $1.6 million today. Including the Texas facility, the organization's total annual budget is $2.1 million.

In 1980, 24 children were housed in four cottages at the Boulder City site. Today, 48 children, mostly locals brought in by relatives or by private referrals, live in eight cottages in Boulder City and 17 youths live in the Texas home.

St. Jude's statistics indicate that 80 percent of its young clients were sexually abused in their homes and about half have learning disabilities.

Clark notes that while there never is enough money to do everything that needs to be done, there is never a shortage of children in need. About 30 Southern Nevada children are on the waiting list to get into St. Jude's.

"Father Ward prays every day that the cycle of child abuse will end so that we can be put out of business," Clark said.

However, because the probability of that happening is almost nil, the organization strives to overcome misconceptions and still grow and prosper.

Perhaps the biggest misconception is that St. Jude's Ranch for Children and St. Jude's Children's Hospital are the same or related organizations. In reality, the two share only the name of a saint.

St. Jude's Hospital is noted for its longtime support from the late entertainer Danny Thomas and its work with ill children on a national scale. St. Jude's Ranch was built in 1967 and has existed primarily to help local abused and neglected -- but not otherwise ailing -- children.

Another big misconception is that St. Jude's is just too far away to attract a great number of Las Vegans as visitors.

"I live in northwest Las Vegas, and it is just a 30-minute trip into work each day," Clark said. "It is not all that far away."

The organization, however, does attract a good portion of the 7 million Hoover Dam visitors who pass its doors every year.

As a result, the organization is striving toward creating attractions that will bring in cash-paying visitors.

One recently acquired attraction is the world's largest working car engine from the closed Auto World museum in Flint, Mich. The engine, which would require a 50-yard-long car, is in storage, awaiting funding for the construction of a three-story building to accommodate it.

"Although this will be a revenue-generating attraction, we cannot take money from the budget which is earmarked for the children to build it," Clark said.

Plans are to erect the building next to the Ogorek Gallery and Exhibit Hall, which is expected to open this summer.

Funded with the help of Southern Nevadans Al and Barbara Ogorek, the museum will feature Al's collection of 1,000-plus model cars. The Ogoreks, originally from Flint, secured the donation of the huge engine, valued at $2 million.

"We must find ways to become totally self-supporting through donations like this from the general public," Ward said after receiving the huge motor during a ceremony earlier this month.

Another way of achieving self-sufficiency has been through projects such as the Campbell's Labels for Education Program, where St. Jude's continually seeks donations of labels from Campbell's products.

This month, in two shipments, St. Jude's sent 1 million labels to Campbell's for a free van to add to its fleet of 10 eight- and 15-seat vans, which are used to transport the children to public schools, sports team events and numerous other functions.

"By the time we get ready to buy a new van, we are ready to retire an old one," Clark said, noting that about 200,000 miles are put on each of the vehicles.

The organization is working on collecting 500,000 Campbell's labels to get a new computer.

Other ways of generating money have been through private donations, sales from its thrift store and gift shop, and through the recycling and remanufacturing of old greeting cards.

The children, earning 15 cents per card, cut and paste the fronts of used cards onto new cards and sell them nationwide. The Ford Motor Co. alone has donated more than 1 million used cards to St. Jude's.

"Recycled greeting cards are just another example of our commitment to protecting the environment," said Andy Acho, Ford's director of environmental outreach. "And with this program, we not only help Mother Nature but these children as well."

The remanufactured cards sell in bulk lots ranging from $1.25 each for 100-150 cards to 85 cents apiece for 1,001-2,000 cards.

Ward said the greeting card project -- trademarked the "Born Again Card" recycling program -- helps the children "not only derive self-esteem, but also learn about the benefits of workfare vs. welfare."

Another way of helping break the stranglehold of welfare is through projects such as the Industrial-Entrepreneurial Program, in which children do odd jobs in addition to their chores and receive vouchers for "industrial dollars," which they can spend at the facility's industrial store.

Among the donated items in stock at that facility are designer clothes, brand-name sneakers and school supplies.

St. Jude's prides itself on being nondenominational, regardless of its director's faith. Ward has personally driven the Jewish children to synagogue.

"Father Ward wants children who were brought up with a religious background to continue practicing their faith while at St. Jude's," Clark said. "Those who do not have a faith are encouraged to practice a religion of their choice.

"One little boy thought by choosing a religion that observed Saturday (as the sabbath) he could get out of doing his Saturday chores. He wound up having to do them on Sunday."

The next major fund-raiser for St. Jude's will be at 2 p.m. March 9 when Dream Production's "Imagine," a musical variety show, will be performed at the Clark County Library theater, 1401 E. Flamingo Road.

The event, produced by former "Legends in Concert" dancer Jane TenPas, features as emcee Eric Martin, who portrayed Elwood Blues of the Blues Brothers in "Legends" at the Imperial Palace.

Tickets are $20 apiece. A sellout will net more than $6,000 for St. Jude's.

For tickets or information on other St. Jude's programs, including a list of brand-name products eligible for the label drive, call 294-7100.

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