Volume 1, Issue 9

December 2007

Introducing our Staff: David Luxner

This month, we'd like to introduce you to our program administrator, David Luxner. How David came to us is truly a miracle story in itself! One day last summer, our Executive Director, Scott DeLoach stopped by a used car lot near Healing Hands Ranch to look at a used pick up truck for the ranch. When Scott asked if he could test drive the truck back to the ranch, the salesman sent one of his employees, David, to go with Scott. While traveling to the ranch, Scott and David started talking about the brand new prison ministry for the Deaf at the ranch. It turned out that David had over 20 years of experience working in the prison and mental health industry and was looking for a job where he could continue to use his experience! Shortly afterwards, David was hired to help develop the programs that would be used at the ranch.

David has been very busy helping Deaf Prison Ministries Network develop all of the policies and procedures for Healing Hands Ranch's residents and staff. David also helps with research and applying for grants to cover our expenses and capital improvement projects. On top of all of this, David is also learning sign language so he can communicate with the residents. David has helped us accomplish so much more than we had ever anticipated. He is truly a God send! ... and by the way, we never did buy the truck!

The Resident Staff House

As we continue to introduce to you our property, this month we'd like to show you one of our two resident staff houses. This house is located in the rear of our property and it is our newest building. It is a small 2 bedroom trailer nestled in the woods. Last summer, we had a group of people from Louisana come and build a bigger deck in front of this house as well as a deck in the back. Since Healing Hands Ranch is a 24 hour operation, it is necessary for some of our staff to live on the ranch and be available to our residents at all times.

Our other resident staff house is located in the front of the ranch. Our long term vision is to eventually create a "staff village" where we would have a cluster of houses that is distinctively located away, but nearby, where the residents live. This is important because our staff need to have their own privacy, but yet, live close enough to the residents should there ever be a problem.

2008 Plans

Although Deaf Prison Ministries Network has had Healing Hands Ranch since April of 2006, we didn't officially start operations until last September when our first resident, Steven, arrived. We spent the first 18 months preparing for operations and getting the ranch ready. 2008 will be our first full year of operations so we have many plans in store! Here are some of our plans:

We will continue to develop various programs for our residents. Much of our program development will depend on our resident's needs.
We will have up to 5 residents. This limit is based on our current staffing levels. If and only if we are able to afford to hire more staff, we will accept more residents.
We plan to establish at least one business venture. Having a business venture is an important part of our success as it will provide our residents job training as well as give us some income to cover our overhead expenses.
We will ramp up on our promotion of Healing Hands Ranch and visit more churches, civic organizations and conferences to increase awareness of our ministry to others.
We plan to complete the construction of the shell house in the front of the property and turn it in to our main "hub" office for Deaf Prison Ministries Network and Healing Hands Ranch. This is dependent upon whether if we get the funds to purchase the materials needed to complete the office.
We will be hosting our 6th annual conference in September, 2008 at Columbus, Ohio. Watch our eNewsletter sometime in late Spring for further information!

As you can see, we have a busy year coming up. Your prayers and support are important to us. Be sure to check out our needs website at HHRneeds.org for our other needs. The staff and board of directors would like to wish you a healthy new year!

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