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Hill Country Youth Ranch

Restoring and Redeeming the Lives of Abused and Abandoned Children

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Easter

Easter is a three-day weekend that starts with Good Friday garden planting, and ends with the celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.  The planting is the oldest tradition involving children at HCYR.  Every Good Friday since 1978, Founder Gary Priour has retold the Easter story under the same old oak tree, to residents and staff, before planting. Gary retraces the days of that Passover week in Jerusalem, pointing out that His appearance before Pilate at 9:00 a.m. Friday morning is the very time the group gathers for planting.

Gary then takes the children through the story of that day, to the Crucifixion at noon, and to the death of Christ at 3:00.  He details the history of the term “Good Friday”.  He relates the Resurrection to the planting of the garden, reciting John 12:24: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” The planting of seeds, he explains, parallels the Easter story.  The miracle of transformation follows a time of darkness. 

After planting, fun activities fill the weekend, including a traditional Easter egg hunt and a barbecue. On Sunday the whole family attends chapel for a traditional service to celebrate the Resurrection. Easter is thus presented as a weekend of profoundly good news, with a unifying story of healing and new life, as well as an occasion for family gatherings.

Hill Country Youth Ranch

3522 Junction Highway
Ingram, TX 78025
Phone: (830) 367-2131
Fax: (830) 367-6108
communications@youth-ranch.org

Big Springs Ranch for Children

10664 US Highway 83 North
Leakey, TX 78873
Phone: (830) 232-7110
Fax: (830) 232-4256
bsinfo@youth-ranch.org

Enhanced Horizons

149 Camp Scenic Loop
Ingram, TX 78025
Phone: (830) 367-4330
Fax: (830) 367-2814
contact@enhancedhorizons.org

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