Today we’d like to introduce you to Susie Black Holamon.
Susie, before we jump into specific questions about the organization, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I am Susie Black Holamon, Founder and President of Geary Girl Ranch(GGR) foster home community. My partner in this “adventure” is Colleen Geary Patton, my former foster sister. I grew up in Dallas Foster Care and Colleen’s parents were responsible for the good placements that I received. I attribute my normal life success to Joe and Charlotte Geary.
I recognized a need for foster parents and homes in North Texas a couple of years ago and reached out to Colleen. I called her and she answered “the calling”, which became our mission “to make a difference” for displaced children in the Texas foster care system, to provide “safe homes” and loving parents, which is what I received.
We became a 501C3 organization ,started raising funds, and now 2 two years later, we are building the first of our eight homes, debt free, on 11 acres that was generously donated.
Each one of our homes is 3000 sq. ft. with five bedrooms/four baths helping four to six foster children in each with the love and care of licensed foster parents who will have the mission of GGR (Geary Girls Ranch) at heart and be fostering these children as their own.
We are providing the homes and facilities on the ranch which will include: seven more homes, an Activity Center, a 3000 sq. ft. greenhouse (donated) and a barn. Our goal is to have our first foster family in place by the end of January and we need to build the next home and activity center asap. We are be working with a Child Placement Agency (CPA) to license and train our parents and volunteers.
All of our families in the community will have the support of programs,facilities and newly constructed homes provided by the funds our organization has raised by our organization. The success of this “community idea” is proven with 3 different communities that my board members and I have visited in Oklahoma and continue to be mentored and inspired by. They are helping hundreds of children in Oklahoma foster care and were established as late as 2013 to present. Our families will be part of GGR, where they will be surrounded by other parents and children with common goals and interests as well as the commitment of our organization to provide for their needs. My story, Joe and Charlotte Geary’s story, explanation and operations of GGR can be found in more detail on our website. www.gearygirlsranch.org
Has it been a smooth road?
Oh my, let me put it this way, it had been a “journey” and a bit of a roller coaster ride. I am a retired teacher as of five years ago when I decided I should write my story “My Five Moms”, became a respite to the Ebby House in Dallas, and became a North Texas Casa to a teenage girl who recently aged out. She is not what I would call a “success”. She had 13 different placements and nine different caseworkers. I followed her all over the state of Texas. The teens are the hardest placement and the least likely to be adopted. I was a teenager in the system. I reached a frustration level with the lack of homes and parents for foster care and called my former foster sister, Colleen Geary Patton. She laughingly says “Be careful when Susie calls and asks “if you have a minute”… Here we are two years later. When I told my husband of 42 years my idea of opening a foster care facility, he responded with “Aren’t you a little long in the tooth to tackle this”!! Well, I told him and continue to say, I have a sound mind, am physically able, and have the passion to follow thru with this mission. So, I put a ten year plan in place.
In the beginning, I did all my research to become a GRO, General Residential Operation, helping teenage girls while I applied for a 501C3 qualification. We began to look at properties and to have fundraiser events. I received a lot of “deer in headlights” looks and “What???” When visiting my brother in OKC, my niece told me about a place where her friend was a foster parent and stated that it was very successful in helping hundreds of foster children. I researched this organization and its concept. After visiting with the Director and touring the property, Colleen and I decided to build this type of community in North Texas. I then began to research and look for other communities. I found none in Texas, but I found three in Oklahoma. I arranged for a tour of each of these three different communities for myself and board members. They were very impressive. Since then, we adjusted our mission to include “families” of foster children of all ages, allowing for two biological children in the homes. On the advice of our Okla. mentors….. Who told us that “the parents on these ranches, foster from the heart, for all the right reasons and you need to let them determine what they’re “families” will be.
We provide the homes and facilities, and the parent and are licensed by the CPA. There are more details “to the operations”, but this is the gist of it. We want to help our parents be able to focus on loving these children and foster with us for a “season” or indefinitely as a calling. We are on a ten year plan, building one home a year, but we are finding that we can’t build fast enough for the families and children who want to be a part of GGR. These Okla. communities did tell us, that, once the first family is in place, that the “ahh…ha..” Moment happens and that their “villages” were built a lot faster than planned. The need is tremendous and unfortunately will continue, so we are doing our best to start a successful program that will also be replicated all over Texas.
Challenges? Absolutely… Disappointments?… Absolutely!…. Blessings?… Absolutely!…. Support in the communities and donations… Absolutely! We are a couple of ol’ ladies trying to pay it forward and make a difference in the lives of these children… One child at a time, one home at a time! Again, we have been able to raise the funds to do this, debt free.
Tell us more about the organization.
OOps… I answered these questions in the last question. We want to be known for “Changing the face of fostering”, a reputation of “care” so that child advocates and agencies and parents, know that at Geary Girls Ranch….. We believe that “every child deserves deserves a safe “Home”…. And our goal is to provide that with a healthy outdoor environment of gardens, animals, and activities on the ranch. We want to ensure the health of the families and children with a variety of programs such as art therapy, animal therapy, foster parent support groups, dance, music and more while focusing on education and the future for our children.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We hope to have a “community” (as shown on our site plan) that will have eight homes, helping 48 children at any given time, we want our “greenhouse” to become an income producing venture for the ranch in the support of the children. We would like to have a barn that will have a therapeutic riding program and farm animals. We will have an activity center that we will bring in the community support with classes and programs that will be beneficial to all. We hope to replicate the success of our mentor communities in Okla. and change the overall “environment” of foster care. These are not “bad children”, they are “children who come from a bad situation”.
Pricing:
- Activity Center build- $75,000
- Future Homes constuction- $300,000
- Barn- $300,000?
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gearygirlsranch.org
- Phone: 325-338-9742
- Email: gearygirlsranch@gmail.com
- Instagram: @Gearygirls
- Facebook: Geary Girls Ranch
- Twitter: @gearygirls
Suggest a story: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
