Agape Ranch is an organization formed to help foster children grow in a positive environment and to deal with the challenges they must endure in their lives. Special attention is paid to children who are about to leave the program. History shows that when these children turn 18 and leave the program, more than 90% of them become homeless; incarcerated; engage in prostitution or sex trafficking; and others die. Susan Klaus, the founder of the organization, was heartbroken by these developments and felt she had to do something.
Agape Ranch was born. Susan and her team found that in South Texas, there are not enough homes for children to take refuge while their lives are in flux. Consequently, they focused on building a literal neighborhood, complete with homes, playgrounds, recreational areas, and onsite respite care providers to love and support foster children.
These facilities are intended to:
• Keep sibling groups together;
• Provide quick response respite care; and
• Provide housing for kids who have aged out of foster care.
Children deserve to have someone tuck them into bed each night, help them with their homework, teach them how to ride a bike, and watch them grow up. However, there are children in the foster care system that have not been able to have some of these things. Through compassionate care and connection to the community, Agape Ranch gives these children places to call home and families that love them so that they can know that they are loved and valued.
The Rotary Club of West Corpus Christi collaborated with Agape on September 25, 2021 to conduct a fund-raising event intended to generate funding to help cover the costs of the facility and increase total overall funds. Club members helped set up the event, worked with the silent auction during the event, and retrieved silent auction items. Agape was able to collect $360,000 in total funds and thus gained the ability to buy an entire house and finish another. Members of the Rotary Club of West Corpus Christi consider it an honor to have been involved with Agape, an excellent organization dedicated to help these children have a chance to succeed in life.
