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Meet The Wildwood Hills Ranch Staff
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Who Is Wildwood Hills Ranch? Wildwood Hills Ranch is a 400-acre non-profit facility, set in the scenic hills of Madison County, just south of Des Moines. Founded in 2001, the ranch exists to transform lives and strengthen communities by providing healing, hope, and God’s unconditional love to children and youth at-risk. Free summer camp and year-round retreats are offered to at-risk children ages 8 -18. Kids are immersed in a fun, safe environment where character, leadership, and teamwork are modeled and taught. The ranch is an ideal setting for children to learn new life skills and gain the confidence necessary to transcend current impoverished, abused, or neglected environments. Campers enjoy first-class facilities and recreational activities including horseback riding, water sports, team building, arts and crafts and much more. Most importantly, children are offered hope and love while being challenged to grow into people of integrity who contribute to the communities they live in. Who Does WWHR Serve? The children who participate in Ranch programs are currently suffering or are at-risk of physical and/or sexual abuse; neglect; parental drug and alcohol abuse; gang violence; instability in family relationships; absence of one or both parents; repeated or permanent out of home…
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- Programs & Events
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- Summer Program
- Bounceback Retreats
In addition to our summer camp programming, Bounceback Retreats are held throughout the school year. Youth are invited back to the Ranch to continue practicing their newly learned skills during these 1 to 2 day retreats. They provide the youth opportunities to build upon the positive summer experiences they have had at Wildwood Hills Ranch. Bouncebacks are also a time to reconnect with and encourage the children. They are another building block in our efforts to help children lay a better foundation to grow upon.
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Collaborating with Character Counts
Character Counts! in Iowa is a project of the Institute for Character Development (ICD) at Drake University. Their mission is to recognize, enhance and sustain the positive qualities of Iowans in order to promote civility through character development.
Wildwood collaborates with the Institute for Character Development at Drake University to incorporate the Character Counts!™ framework, activities and training into every aspect of programming at the ranch. Our cirriculum is rooted in the Six Pillars of Character: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship. The Character Counts!™ framework is a process of teaching, encouraging, advocating and modeling that these six universal values are important in all areas of life in a community. We practice these skills in a variety of ways, including role playing, small group discussions and journaling.
To learn more about Character Counts!, please visit their website at charactercounts.org.
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