I just sold a warehouse.
Actually, I didn’t, but Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch did. In the Fargo, ND Industrial Park, right off I-29. Great location.
The remarkable people who came before me and built a loving place for children to heal and thrive, knew this place had to survive for generations. They knew that there would not be, in this world, an end to the need.
So, these folks prayed and thought and planned. They developed friendships with folks like you who truly cared about our kids and our mission to “help at-risk children and their families succeed in the name of Christ.” They recruited excellent staff and built facilities. They studied and prayed some more.
And they started our thrift stores.
We really try to find every way possible to afford to provide the Spiritual Life, Treatment, and Educational Services the children need. We rely on our donors. We look for grants that align with our work. We bill insurance and Medicaid for what we can. And, we operate thrift stores.
People are incredibly generous in donating to our stores.
And it's not easy work for our thrift store employees who move these donations through the process. When items come in, everything has to be checked and sorted and distributed. Everything that plugs in must be checked to see if it works. Everything that is durable must be checked to ensure it is intact. Clothes have to be checked for tears and stains and missing buttons. We want the great people who work in our stores to be proud of the merchandise they sell in support of the children. We’re all here for the same mission.
And we recycle. Unusable metal items go in this recycling bin. Damaged books over here. Wire cords for electronics that don’t work in this container. Glass… so much glass… Clothing – finally, we get to why we had a warehouse for sale.
If we can't sell clothing in our stores, but it is still useful, we certainly don’t want to put it in a landfill. There is a strong market for used clothing around the world. The United States disposes of many things that are treasured elsewhere. We just have to get the items to where they are needed.
For many years, the Ranch has sold its unsold clothing items to recyclers that get them to third-world countries where they are used. Recently, it has become difficult to sell the items unless we have them baled and on pallets. To do that you need a really big baler. To house a really big baler, you need a big enough warehouse. We found a different warehouse, built in the 1950s, that is just right. So we moved our operations there and sold the old warehouse.
We do a lot of stuff to make sure we can continue to help at-risk children and their families succeed in the name of Christ. I want you to know that we need and appreciate every gift you share. I also want you to know that we work really hard to do all we can to steward the gifts we are given.
Please keep our kids and staff in your prayers.
In His love,
Joy Ryan, President/CEO
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch
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