After 20 years, the Nature Fun Ranch, a youth and community project, focused on helping ‘at risk‘ young people develop holistically is making a big step towards sustainability.

Director Corey Layne said a push in that direction came with the timely intervention of CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank, whose staff visited its ten acre plot at Bruce Vale Plantation, St. Andrew recently to assist with a major clean up and debushing.

The employees, made up of several ranks of the bank’s staff, not only brought a healthy monetary donation but armed with weed whackers, saws, hammers, paint brushes and other tools, they worked alongside the ranch’s young people clearing shrubbery, painting fences, making benches and generally readying the premises for activities that Layne hopes will allow the ranch to earn its keep.

He therefore thanked CIBC FirstCaribbean for its contribution noting that about four years ago, the ranch relocated to Bruce Vale which suited its purpose of using agriculture, equestrian, adventure and other outdoor pursuits to produce well rounded civic-minded individuals. He pointed out that the Ranch now had a Board of Directors and an Advisory Board comprising prominent citizens who would be able to advise and guide the running of the facility.

But he said the place needed a lot of work including repairing the former manager’s residence and transforming it into a club house; de-bushing and making paths more accessible.

Layne said that CIBC’s generosity will help the fun ranch to get its fund-raising projects going and he hopes that it will soon be able to offer a stipend to its camp directors and assistants, who are currently full time volunteers.

The records of the Nature Fun Ranch indicate that 2074 people have passed though its doors as of April 2017.