July 2024

The Ruth Project

The Farm is Spiffy Thanks to Our Beloved Volunteers

Summertime is the best time for working on The Farm! We’re overwhelmingly grateful for so many volunteers who have enjoyed sunshine and blue skies while working on much needed projects, both big and small. Together, we have accomplished so much.

Our first Work Day included lots of landscaping – weeding, mulch freshening, and planting – which really made The Farm look its best for summer guests. A team of carpenters got a big head start on a new lean-to in the pasture, so our animals could have shelter from any weather conditions. Just a couple weeks later, they attached a roof and it was ready for our sweet cows, goats, and sheep.

Also completed was a wrap-around border for the upcoming “Dirt Pile,” where kids will be able to dig, “drive” toy trucks, and hunt for surprises! Landscape fabric, mulch, stones, and a sweet picket fence were installed. Fence-painting was a big part of the project.

A week later, a youth group of forty girls from the Village Church of Barlett came to The Farm for a painting night. One group finished painting the Dirt Pile fence, while another painted the new lean-to inside white and outside red. What a tag-team and group effort!

Generous Hearts Bless our Foster Families

The Ruth Project has wonderful partnerships with generous donors and community partners who designate financial support for specific projects at The Farm. Their abundant support is key for stewarding well every corner of The Farm for foster children and their families.

Elgin’s First Congregational United Church of Christ this Spring chose to award The Ruth Project $22,500 to specifically help fund Phase One of our Hangout Barn remodel. We are overwhelmed to have been one of twenty incredible local organizations this year to benefit from their Paul L. Jehle Trust, an Endowment Fund they steward carefully to serve the community. They’ve made it possible for us to adjust the barn framing, prepare for and install a staircase to the upper level, pour a new concrete floor, and lay gravel for a seamless walkway in and out of the barn. It’s already looking transformed!

We’re also overwhelmed by the generosity of Designed Stairs in Sandwich, who is donating all materials for the stair itself and Bartholet Concrete who went above and beyond with the new floor and discounted the gravel pathways. All are such abundant blessings that we do not take lightly!

Another tremendously generous grant has come from ChapelStreet Church through their “Serve the World” program. This “project-specific” grant is intended to help us move forward with Phase One of our Animal Barn improvements. $25,000 is enabling us to run water lines to the barns and replace the barn pasture fencing. Our farm animals play such a big role in our encouragement for foster families, and water lines will help us care for these animals more efficiently and effectively.

Yet another wonderful partnership and friendship has been forged with Clausen Landscaping and owner Steve Clausen. Steve is gifted with incredible creativity and vision, and his counsel and help with all types of landscaping on The Farm is invaluable. Steve and his friends from Christ Community Church transplanted 30 of our sugar maple trees along with new evergreens that now line Somonauk Road and the entire length of our west hay field! It’s simply beautiful and is helping lay the groundwork for our vision of building two cul-de-sacs of cottages on that corner of The Farm.

We praise the Lord for these generous hearts – and the generous hearts of so many who have caught the vision of caring for today’s modern-day orphans. We never take any gift for granted – no matter what size – and are grateful to be able to steward them all for our precious families and their children.

Dash and Dine Continues to Make an Impact

The Ruth Project monthly Dash and Dine continues to be one of our most popular Family Support Events! Since launching it in 2021, our families have driven by our Elgin Storehouse Boutique to receive their “Party in a Box” abundantly filled with meals and loaded with surprises. That means over 10,000 individual meals have been gifted to these precious families who love and care for foster, adopted, and birth children in their homes.

Dash and Dine provides parents a break to simply enjoy one another, bond, and make memories. Families receive at least one frozen casserole and all the sides to enjoy sometime that week. Tablecloths, centerpieces, cups, plates, and napkins – all theme-related – are also included! A huge bonus is the hot meal to eat on the way home that’s provided by our treasured community partner, Elgin Chick-fil-A. Owner Phil Tuttle and his team members come each month to help deliver these pre-ordered meals to the cars. The Ruth Project team also treasures this time to connect with each family and child as they drive through.

Also what makes Dash and Dine so special is that each month there’s something new and fresh for families to share and grow together. “Tilda Tries Again” was a recent family book that inspired a ladybug Dash and Dine theme. After Tilda’s life turns upside down, she meets a ladybug who helps her learn to live life in her new normal. That month, older kids received an “Upside Down Game” of hilarious challenges to do while wearing glasses that viewed the world upside down! Younger ones received a ladybug “bug box” to decorate. Also included were rocks to paint as ladybugs for a reminder to be brave when life feels upside down. Ladybug tablecloths, plates, napkins, and decorations completed the party.

There’s even more! Each month families can in advance request needed supplies or Boutique items, and anyone in their household having a birthday that month receives a gift or gift card. They also receive a birthday cupcake, theme-decorated and donated by our sweet community partner and local baker Christi Guth.

A huge thank you goes to all the volunteers who assemble so many needed casseroles! This month’s casserole team leads Lisa Kuntz and Cheryl Johnson generously opened their kitchens to fill this special need. Thank you!