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Last updated on Sunday, February 25, 2018
(INDIANAPOLIS) - Indiana’s 92 sheriffs today launched a statewide “Kick In For Kids” campaign to privately fund their new Youth Ranch now under development in West Central Indiana. The good news is they’ve secured a $500,000 match for donations and have female business leaders lining up to help.
Being built without tax dollars, the 62-acre facility will be the permanent home for the Indiana Sheriffs' Youth Leadership Camps, which have been hosted for 38 years at rented venues to mentor future law enforcement officers and bond with at-risk kids.
Owning the Youth Ranch will allow sheriffs to expand their camps to more days per week and more weeks each year - quadrupling the number of Indiana teens served. Spring and fall weekend retreats will be planned for young witnesses and victims of crime. Middle schoolers from all 92 Indiana counties will be eligible for Youth Ranch camps, retreats and visits.
Ardizzone Family Will Match Dollar-For-Dollar, If $500,000 Can Be Raised By Aug. 31, 2018
Tony and Sue Ardizzone, owners of Ardizzone Enterprises, Inc., an Indianapolis-based real estate investment and construction company, were flanked by several grateful sheriffs today as they publicly offered to match donations dollar-for-dollar, if $500,000 can be raised through individual and business contributions by Aug. 31, 2018.
Sheriffs are already seeking help from local business and civic leaders and they seem confident they will meet their third quarter deadline.
At the same announcement today, a group of female Central Indiana business leaders stepped forward to announce donations to furnish and equip a new centrally located Youth Ranch Resource Center for the sheriffs' "Kick In For Kids" fundraising campaign, crime prevention materials for students and eventually the enrollment and safety briefings of young campers.
Cindy Bailey, owner and president of Bailey Trucking, Inc., of Frankfort, Ind., donated funds for furniture and equipment for the Youth Ranch Resource Center in honor of her dedicated employees. Mrs. Bailey has been a generous supporter of police and sheriff K-9 units, which sometimes train at the Indiana Sheriffs' K-9 Academy, housed in a repurposed veterinary clinic on the wooded, rolling Youth Ranch property outside Brazil, Ind.
Christina Dorsey Cottey, Rosemary Dorsey and Beth Ann Dorsey of Dorsey Paving, Inc., of Indianapolis, are dedicating a conference and training room in memory of Marion County Sheriff Jack Cottey who was a national leader in community and youth safety programs. The Cottey Conference Room will be shared with the Marion County Sheriffs' Reserve Division, which also enjoys free office space donated by the Ardizzones, who own ZZONE 31 Commercial Suites on Indy's Southside.
Your Donation May Be Mailed, Dropped Off or Made Online at www.SheriffsYouthRanch.org
Marion County Sheriff John Layton said an estimated $3 million in private funds will be needed to complete the Youth Ranch, where middle schoolers will fish, swim, canoe, hike, bike, zipline, ride horses and play soccer, basketball, softball, volleyball and horseshoes. While enjoying the Youth Ranch amenities, the teens will learn important life lessons about personal safety, first aid, cybercrimes, bullying, financial fraud, substance abuse, firearms safety and violence.
"Each of our counties will have an achievable fundraising goal based on our local population," said Layton, president of the Youth Ranch board. "That's the fairest way for all of us to help meet our statewide objective and have ownership of this vital project to make Hoosier hometowns safer. After all, we want it to be for kids from all communities in all counties."
Sheriffs said an influx of $1 million -- $500,000 in donations and $500,000 from the Ardizonne family's match -- will help retire the Youth Ranch mortgage, install needed utilities and complete some of the recreation areas. With these improvements, sheriffs foresee daytime visits and primitive overnights as early as 2019.
Layton said naming rights are available for several youth cabins, a peace chapel, horse stable, swimming pool and dining hall, which are needed for weeklong camps and weekend retreats.
Tax-deductible donations to the Youth Ranch may be dropped off at local Sheriff's offices, made online at www.SheriffsYouthRanch.org or mailed to Indiana Sheriffs' Youth Ranch, Attn: Kick In For Kids, 5401 S. East St., Suite 117, Indianapolis, IN 46227.
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