I lived here Bulverde campus great place I would recommend to many other kids! I moved about three years ago but my sister still resides at the girls home! Staff are amazing they teach us life skills and stuff like that. I personally loved living in the group home. Also they love us. And care for us. When we wanted to do stuff but we didn't have petty cash staff would pitch in. A
Former resident
-Selena S. (18)
This is a great organization no matter what you read please know the kids need your support and there's some amazing people working with these kids
Love the comments about CEO, Christine Spadafor's office... She is at St. Jude's Ranch 3 days a month (if it coincides with her board meetings over at Boyd Gaming where she makes $220,000). She makes $476,422 a year at St. Jude's, stops in fires a few dedicated employees, creates a culture of fear and backstabbing and leaves. The pictures in her office are at least 8 years old. The employee turnover is 80% and the occupancy rate of the youth is below 50%. There are multiple EEOC cases for terminating employees that were on work comp leaves and Harassment lawsuits currently filed. The place sucks all around. DFS needs to step in and clean house. Finally the idiot HR Director is gone, Spadafor has been demoted out of CEO and 9 Board members have run for cover. Get rid of Carlye DuPart and the idiot running the thrift store who is egotistical and stealing, the transitional living program director who sells the stuff she steals from the kids warehouse and sells on local Facebook yard sales and the place might have a chance.
Previous Stories
St. Jude's Ranch for Children has come under intense scrutiny lately for abuse by the very people that are supposed to be creating a safe haven for abused children. In the last 16 months that I have been sub-contracting for this organization, I have seen upper management fire some very fine, loving, hardworking individuals that truly cared for the children. The CEO, who is seldom even at the headquarters shows up, creates a great deal of chaos, then leaves. I have spoken with the employees about the CEO and they say that "whenever she shows up, someone gets fired". The employees are in constant fear of losing their jobs, which the children pick up on, creating fear in the youth that are already suffering from reactive attachment disorder. It is a very toxic environment for everyone involved. The board members, who should be evaluating the CEO, and other Directors do not hold the CEO accountable for the out of proportion turnover of employees. I was told that the Director, Christina Vela, quit and walked off the campus without saying anything to the youth. I later found out she was fired by the CEO, who then lied to everyone one by saying that Christina did not care enough to say good bye to them. The organization is falling apart, being investigated for several State and Federal violations and the Board of Directors are sitting by doing nothing. Shame on you St. Jude's Ranch for Children! Step down Christine Spadafor you are doing more damage than good.
Review from Guidestar
I live in Boulder City and happen to know clients / orphans personally. I have seen a little girl mistreated at the library by a St Judes staff member. I see St Judes residents mistreated in the local schools.I regularly feet and nurture a resident at St Judes because he is not being fed at the ranch so before you want to go around giving 5 stars to an organization you know nothing about, do a little bit more investigation other than taking the word of a woman named Christine who rake in over 2 million dollars a year in profit from her nonprofit. there is no accountability for how they treat the children there or rather, mistreat the children.many of the children grow up lost tossed out into the street upon turning 18 the staff members are basically just sitting around collecting salaries for nothing very similar to a welfare check. A better idea what to be to leave these children with their neglectful natural parents and let them collect a welfare check.
An incredible group of people devoted to the good work of taking tragedy and turing it into triumph! I had the honor of meeting with the CEO, Christine Spadafor. Her office is a wonderful testament of their true mission. Pictures, drawings, and letters from the kids. fill every inch of her walls! Such good work, such great kids, so loved and valued. Amazing.
I have seen the great impact that St. Jude's Ranch for Children has had on the chidlren they serve in New Braunfels, TX. SJRC has recently expanded their Pregnant and Parenting Teen Home to accept 24 teen mothers and their babies. This program creates a home like environment to teach teen mothers how multitask being an effective parent, managing school or work responsibilities, and being involved in the community. The staff at SJRC are passionate in helping every young mother to be successfull young adults in society. The Pregnant and Parenting Program is only one of many programs that SJRC offers to children and young adults! There is a campus in Bulverde, TX that cares for foster children and has recently began a new program to reach out into the surrounding community in search for foster parents/ homes. In Nevada, they offer services to chidlren and youth in foster care and have recently opened a new program to help homeless youth ages 18 to 25. SJRC is a wonderful organization that is constantly changing to ensure that all youth and children in need are getting the resect, services, and attention they deserve!
St. Jude's has been a blessing for teenagers and their babies, by providing them with a safe homelike environment. It has given them a chance to to grow and start a new path. St. Jude's has ben supported by a wonderful commumity who has taken them in with open arms.
I have worked in this field for almost eighteen years. I work in New Braunfels at the Teen and Parenting program. I have seen first hand how this program helps our teens by working directly with our teens. They are learning life skills that we will help them to be good role models for their children. By vounteering their time they are learning about the community they live in and with the different programs and volunteers they are learning to be good citizens of their community and our community is learning about St Jude's.
Its hard to put into words what St. Jude's Ranch for Children has done in my life. I thought coming to work with them would help me make a difference in kids lives that needed it most, but this organization has helped to change my life as well. St. Judes allows children the opporutinity to be kids. That is something many of them have never had the chance to be. This organization allows children to be themselves and encourages growth and helping to make these kids make something of themselves. This experience has taught me so much about life and how to enjoy every minute of it. We are changeing lives daily and it is because St. Judes allows us the chance to do that.
St. Jude's Ranch for Children is an extraordinary organization that provides much needed services for children. They provide homes that are loving and welcoming, educational programs that create a strong foundation for necessary life skills, and they ensure that the children who arrive on their doorstep are safe and secure - physically, mentally, and spiritually. St. Jude's Ranch is a wonderful community partner, and my family and I have had the great pleasure of participating in the numerous holiday programs and other special events that take place regularly at the Ranch. Meeting the children and hearing how their lives have been enriched and saved by St. Jude's confirms that supporting the Ranch through volunteerism, or financial support, or both, is simply the right thing to do. We are so very fortunate to have an organization of this high caliber in Southern Nevada and I challenge everyone who cares about children to find a place in their heart to support St. Jude's Ranch.
I have seen the work of St. Judes Ranch for Children first hand. I have worked for them for the past two and a half years at their Pregnant and Parenting Teen location in New Braunfels, Texas. Our Staff is dedicated to breaking the cycle of abuse and neglect for these children in our care. While they are residents in our facility they learn the proper skills needed so that one day they may be the kind of parent to their child that they did not have growing up.