Sheriff’s Boy’s Ranch – Ride for the Ranch

Back in 1966, then Sheriff Mel Bailey and several other sheriffs in the state saw the need for housing for kids who had troubled home lives and needed to be removed from a bad situation and placed in some sort of normal home life setting. Now, there are currently seven ranches throughout the state, one of which is a girls’ ranch and has five houses. Here in St. Clair County, they have three houses, The Wesley House, Mel Bailey House, and the Beason House that has several leaks, so this ride was to raise money to try and get the house re-roofed.

The ride itself took about an hour or so through some really beautiful country, and ended at the Ranch, which sits nestled in the middle of that beautiful countryside. When we arrived at the Ranch, the sounds of Steve Shaffer from Shaffer’s RV resonated through the air. Pell City where Steve is from touts him as being their own “Randy Travis.” We enjoyed it. Later, Amy Drinkwater, a Christian jazz singer of Sunflower Ministries, took the stage to entertain us all.

In between the great music, they had a ton of door prizes to give away, and most everyone got something. Leigh and I got a #8 Dale Jr. cooler, which he thought was pretty cool because he is a huge “Little E” fan. They also had a 50/50 drawing, which totaled about $215, which Becky Taylor won and turned around and donated back to the Ranch. There were a little over 100 bikes to make the ride, and they brought in $2,165 toward the replacement of the roof on the Beason house.

After the prizes were given out and everyone finished refueling themselves with good food and cold drinks, we were entertained by Kevin Nichols, “Sons of Seven Ministry” and some of the boys from the ranch playing “Djembe Drums” and instruments from around the world. It was pretty cool! They had just as much fun playing for all of us as we did listening to them. After some of the people on the ride left, the ones remaining took the boys for a ride around the Ranch. They had a blast being bikers for the day.

There’s something kind of comforting about doing a bike ride with cops escorting you the whole way. The fact it was for such a good cause makes it even nicer. It felt good to be a part of their first ride for the Ranch, and with the response they had, they have decided to do this again each year in June.

The boys and everyone involved in putting together the ride were very touched by the large turnout. The boys said they didn’t realize that many people actually cared about them, and I think all of the riders were as touched by the appreciation they showed to all of us. It is a very overwhelming feeling to be a part of this. May God bless each of them in their efforts to help these kids grow into productive, happy, healthy adults who know that they ARE loved!

Write-On and Ride-On

Story and photos by Lynn Reynolds and Leigh Lilly - Birmingham, Alabama