Cal Farley's Boys Ranch

The Organization

Founded in 1939 north of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle, Boys Ranch, Founded by Cal Farley's is one of America's largest privately-funded child and family service organizations, specializing in residential services provided at no cost to the families of children in its care. Boys Ranch's residential programs offer a campus environment at the organization’s flagship campus where children live in homes or cottages, and basic-care services offer 24-hour supervision in a small, community setting where the residents attend school and have a myriad of academic, experiential learning, athletic and other extracurricular opportunities. Houseparent couples, caseworkers, other adult mentors and professionals guide the children to develop their potential and help them become principled, contributing members of society upon graduation or completion of their individual therapeutic plans.

Boys Ranch sits on about 12,000 acres in the rugged mesas northwest of Amarillo. Boys Ranch itself is a self-supporting community on a 1,000-acre footprint. Facilities on the property include barns, livestock and horse arenas; residence homes; a chapel; an independent school district with elementary, middle and high schools, a gymnasium, a natatorium and an auditorium; recreational installations such as a ropes course; a greenhouse; a fire department; and water treatment facility. While at first glance, the Boys Ranch campus might appear much like any other Texas Panhandle town, it is much more. Open to at-risk children ages 5 to 18, Boys Ranch is an entire community built intentionally to surround children from across the nation with nurturing support and structure, meeting the six essentials of Cal Farley’s Model of Leadership and Service®, those areas of need the organization believes every human being must satisfy to achieve his/her God-given potential: safety, belonging, achievement, power, purpose and adventure.