Carriage House Update

The heat is on in the Carriage House! Hallelujah!! Bryan's Fuels along with EJ Walsh have hooked up the modern and very efficient boiler that heats the upper and lower levels with the in floor heating system.

Sean Coll and his crew have finished the drywall, priming and first coat of paint on the lower level walls and some of the ceilings...it looks really good! The stairs have been installed between the two levels.

The stairs, porches and entrances on the north and south ends are operational and looking really good. These are made with lumber from Terry Kell's property and finished under John Hayward's expertise and direction.

Jeff Schneyderberg and Darryl Schenk have worked long and hard to mill, sand, stain and spray all the trim that is scheduled to be installed by Dave Black this week.

All available staff hands were on deck to experience the raising of the first "beam" in The Great Room. This was orchestrated by John Hayward.

Mike Markquardt who comes all the way from Michigan, is coming to build the fireplace inside The Great Room. God bless you Mike!

In the near future we are looking forward to the return of our dear Irene Dunn from Australia. She is a master hand for tiling.

We are getting there. By God's grace, The Carriage House will be completed and fully operational. Bunkhouses 3 through 4b will be history!! Glory to God!!

Nico Koeslag is always friendly, supportive and smiling...and also happens to have been responsible for building Maintenance here at the Ranch since 2003. Thanks for all you do Nico!

Eleven Years!

I find myself writing this on March 8th, 2011, eleven

years to the day of when I started working for the Lord at Teen Ranch Canada. What a blessing these last eleven years have been to my family and I. From my standpoint, I feel that working day by day in a Christian ministry has helped me to grow in my walk with God, as I`ve seen many people‘s lives' change here as they come to the realization that God is real and that he has a plan for each of our lives.

As far as my family is concerned, they have all been impacted. Jon and Josh both found their spouses here and Nicole and Katie have both been impacted by the Ranch as well. Thank you Lord for allowing me to serve you the last eleven years at Teen Ranch Canada.

Brian Smith continues to be a tremendous blessing to all or us—and if you come to Teen Ranch and he’s on -site, he’ll likely be the first one to welcome you. We have appreciated Brian’s of humour, steadfast faith and encouraging words over the years. We know you won’t mind if we wish you yet another ...

“Happy 11th Anniversary Brian!”

Property News!

We have had a very busy and productive winter season caring for the facilities here at the Ranch. Fresh coats of paint and touch ups have been done in a few much needed places.

Thanks go to Mr. Darryl, Luke Murray, Nikki Scott, Sarah Fabok as well as Brian Smith and Jackie Wilson for their team effort in completing the work - especially with all that smelly fire code paint.

Some of the other projects that were completed were a new games room; a new fireside room; trim paint and touch ups in the Coach House as well as new feature wall on lower level.

We also saw new fire doors, Darryl has been doing a wonderful job keeping on top of these items.

The lobby in the Ice Corral has a fresh coat of paint. As well, work on the bathrooms is being done with the help of Randy Reeso who works at the Ice Corral.

Bev Marshall has been a star these past few months in monitoring and encouraging all the staff to help refresh the Ranch. Way to go Bev!

Certified Horsemanship Association

Each May long weekend, Teen Ranch hosts an invaluable clinic that trains and certifies Horseback Riding Instructors. We use this for training and preparation for our own staff, and also certify about 20 others from all over Canada. Each participant is required to teach at least four lessons. They are evaluated by their group members as well as their Clinic Instructors with a huge emphasis on safety, education and fun on horses. This clinic drastically improves teaching ability, even within the five days of the clinic. 

While participants aren‘t teaching, they are role playing for other instructors. This allows the instructors to have something to teach, but it also creates an understanding of where those beginner riders are coming from. Having our own riding instructors take part in the CHA Clinic has allowed us to provide well-trained, confident instructors for our guests.

Corrie Ensom is well-recognized as an excellent riding instructor and has taught our intensive program for many years. She is certified as a Master Instructor for CHA.

Basecamp

Our brand new registration program is coming along very nicely. Every day brings us a little bit closer to the final product.

This weekend (March 18-20, 2011) was the testing of a module for the Snack Bar POS system. This module implements a full product database which is searchable via a barcode scanning system. Each item scanned gets added to a live shopping cart that automatically calculates totals and is payable by cash or credit/debit card. All payment information is instantly sent to our accountant, Anne Burzese, negating the job of an employee running the snack bar to pass the information on to Anne at the end of their shift.

The next module to be implemented will be a mass mailing project. This mass mailer makes it extremely easy to filter through our database full of contacts and send the appropriate, personalized emails. The database can be filtered by anything from campers and golfers all the way down to all males that play in our Men‘s League and like Mars Bars.

Dane Stevens has been a bless- ing to Teen Ranch. Using his knowledge and skills of web language and graphic design, he has created a new media outlook for the Ranch.

Hockey Programs

Pond Hockey was great this season. We worked hard and finished

strong with the end of the season party. We look forward to Spring Hockey starting up April 10th and we also have 3 sessions left of skills and skating Wednesday nights.

A pre-rep tryout clinic will be held at Teen Ranch April 11th to the 15th. This is one of our new programs, designed to attract players to fine tune their skills before tryouts.

Of course, we can't forget the Three on Three summer hockey for all ages. We had a great turnout for Bring a Friend Weekend with 55 campers in our hockey program. Can't wait until summer camp – we‘ll see you on the ice!

-Jay Pagett

As head hockey instructor since January, Jay has fantastic ideas and the energy to further develop and fill Teen Ranch hockey programs. Jay was the Head Hockey Coach at University of Florida from Sept 2008, leading the Gators into battle. Jay studied Sports Management at Liberty University and has served as an on-ice instructor at Teen Ranch summer camp many summers.

Upcoming Events - April

Spring is coming! (And I didn‘t receive that information from the 

groundhog.) So how do I know? Because we at Teen Ranch have started to plan the Easter Open House! What does that mean for you? Chocolate, trail rides, giant swing, pony rides and lots more! The best part is...it‘s FREE! Come bring your whole family and join us on April 23, 2011. The Open House will be followed by a Teen Ranch VIP Reunion for all Teen Ranch alumni!

Attention all you great husbands and daughters out there - I am sure you are aware that Mother‘s Day is on May 8th. Instead of buying her the traditional vacuum cleaner or dish- washer (which I am sure she loved), how about giving her the opportunity to take a whole weekend off? This year we are introducing our first Mother/Daughter Equine Retreat. What better way to bond than over riding lessons, trail rides, spa night, chocolate fountains and campfires? Mom doesn‘t  have to ride if she doesn‘t want to. Give her a weekend she deserves May 13-15th..

Full of amazing energy and enthusiasm, Britt is doing a fantastic job of keeping things humming here at Teen Ranch.

For more information on these events and others, please contact Britt at britt@teenranch.on.ca or visit our website www.teenranch.on.ca.