Living Hope Youth Ranch Provides Mentors and Summer Fun for Regional Children
By Scott Laird
At Living Hope Youth Ranch, children get the chance to spend time with a caring adult while learning to operate an excavator, ride a horse, or drive a stick shift pickup off-road on a dirt race track.
The nonprofit, faith-based, and equine-assisted youth mentorship program focuses on at-risk youth.
The ranch is the home of the Martinez family. Joe and Bethany Martinez bought the property in 2018 and started their youth program in 2019. Their children, Gabe and Izzy, have grown up on the ranch and help out with the program.
Gabe tends the pigs, and Izzy helps with the horses.
Most importantly, it’s a place where children in the foster care system or who are struggling can come and spend 1-on-1 time with a caring adult while doing a variety of activities.
“It’s a mentor program to let kids know that someone cares about them,” Bethany says. “Somebody wants to get to know them, wants to spend time with them, and wants to have fun with them.”
At Living Hope Youth Ranch, youth attend 2, 1-hour sessions each month. Activities include spending time with animals on the farm; playing games or playing in the river; hiking; going for jeep, side-by-side, or golf cart rides around the property; and learning to operate an excavator or tractor. At least 1 session each season is spent doing chores and giving back to the ranch.
“Our No. 1 outreach is to kids in foster care,” Bethany says. “We don’t have a lot of foster kids living in Vernonia, so most of them come from outside of town. We also look for at-risk kids—kids who might be going through something rough in their life, like parents going through a divorce, the death of a sibling or parent, or they are getting bullied at school. But, pretty much anybody can come. As I like to tell people, all kids are going through something rough at any given time. Even if they’re not talking about it, they probably still are.”
An average of about 30 youth visit the ranch twice each month, starting in June, depending on the weather, through the end of October. Many children return year after year. The program is free of charge to the families they serve.
The program is rooted in the Martinezes’ faith-based beliefs.
“We don’t do a Bible lesson or things like that,” Bethany says. “Just through our actions we show them they’re loved, cared for, and are special.”
Located on 88 acres, just across the Nehalem River from Anderson Park in Vernonia, Living Hope Ranch features a long stretch of riverfront. Trails wind through areas of forest. There’s a large old barn, numerous sheds and outbuildings, several horse corrals, and other animal pens. 1 trail leads to a view overlooking the town from the top of the hill. A large wooden cross and an American flag can be seen from across town.
The 5 horses and a donkey that live on the ranch are the main attraction. Participants can learn horsemanship by riding or walking horses in an arena, through an obstacle course, or on a trail ride.
Spending time with the rest of the ranch animals is also a favorite. The pigs are usually excited to get out and play. The ranch has bred Dobermans and dachshunds in the past, and continues to breed Dobermans.
Games include corn hole, ladder ball, ping-pong, air hockey, and pool in the barn. There’s archery and airsoft target shooting, and a kayak or a paddleboard for playing in the river. There are also arts and crafts.
Some activities can be contingent on weather, but indoor spaces allow sessions to continue, even in the rain. If it’s too hot, the horses won’t want to be ridden, or if it’s too cold to go paddleboarding, there are other activities to choose from.
A 3-person board of directors helps oversee operations of the nonprofit, and includes Bethany’s father, Robert Green; Diane Benes, who has years of equestrian coaching and horsemanship experience; and Tamorah Sook, who has worked with children at Vernonia Elementary School for 25 years.
Alongside Bethany and Joe, Korina and Mickey Buehrer serve as mentors. With about 20 activities to choose from, children who spend time at the ranch have numerous opportunities to find something they can enjoy while spending time with someone focused on them.
Even so, Bethany says it’s not limited to those structured activities.
“If they have an idea about something they’d like to do during their time here, we can try to make it happen,” she says. “If they want to bump a volleyball around while they’re hanging out or just go for a walk along the river, that’s fine.”
Opportunities continue to expand at Living Hope Ranch. Joe recently completed construction of a new picnic shelter, and the dirt track was added last year. A new covered horse arena is nearing completion and may allow the program to expand into the winter months.
“Some kids just don’t get the opportunity, for a number of reasons, to do fun things with a caring adult who is going to help build them up,” Bethany says. “We want them to know they were created for a purpose and help them realize that.”