In the beginning, St. Jude's Ranch for Children wasn't a place, so much, as a dream in the mind of one well-meaning man. "What if we could build a place for neglected children," he wondered. "How much good could we do?"

"A lot!" For more than 40 years, St. Jude’s Ranch for Children has provided a safe, nurturing home and therapeutic residential treatment services to approximately 1,000 children in Nevada and Texas. St. Jude's Ranch is making a difference by creating new lives with new skills for abused, abandoned and neglected children of all races and faiths.

The vision came from Father Jack Adam (1932 - 2007), an Episcopal priest who wanted to create a safe haven for abandoned children in Southern Nevada. He named the organization after St. Jude, the Patron Saint of Impossible Causes. At first, Father Jack's project seemed to be one of them. Then, in 1966 a group of local leaders came forward to help.

Claudine and Shelby Williams offered to help with fund-raising and organized a successful gala called the "Nite of Stars." With the help of Forrest Duke, the then entertainment columnist at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, they convinced such stars as Jack Benny, Shecky Greene, Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra to perform. Held November 15, 1966, at the Riviera Hotel, the event was a great success, raising more than $30,000.

Alvin Wartman, an attorney in Boulder City, persuaded City fathers to provide 40 acres of land for a campus. The Sisters of Charity, an order of nuns based in Bristol, England, agreed to care for the children.
 
Construction began in the Spring of 1967. On September 1, 1967, Eddie - a boy from Elko, Nevada - became the first resident at St. Jude's Ranch for Children. It wasn't big or fancy, but the kind people of Southern Nevada quickly embraced the mission and the program.

The St. Jude's Women's Auxiliary was established and became the largest and most active support group in the Las Vegas area with more than 300 members. Builders, contractors and tradesmen offered to help develop the property. Publicity surrounding the Nite of Stars helped bring new supporters to the Ranch Family.

During the tenure of Father Herbert A. Ward, who directed the campus from 1970 to 2000, St. Jude's Ranch became one of the most visible and successful non-profit organizations in Southern Nevada.

Today, the charming campus is a community landmark and an important part of life in Boulder City. Tourists regularly stop by on their way to and from Las Vegas to visit the Gift Shop. Weddings are conducted in the Chapel filled with colorful murals.

Still, Father Jack would have no trouble recognizing the organization through all of its growth from Day One. St. Jude's Ranch puts kids first and remains true to its mission: rescuing abused, abandoned and neglected children and providing a safe, nurturing and therapeutic home.

In 1994, St. Jude's Ranch for Children acquired its second campus. Known originally as the St. Jude's Home for Children, it is located in Bulverde, Texas, where it opened in 1983.
The program in Bulverde provides the same therapeutic residential treatment services as the Boulder City campus to children ages 5 to 21 years.

In 1999, St. Jude's Ranch for Children added a third campus, the former Comal County Emergency Children's Shelter in New Braunfels, Texas, where it had opened in 1987. The Shelter provides services to children from newborn to 13 years. Typically, the Shelter children are under the age of 5 years.

The three Ranch campuses provide a broad continuum of therapeutic care in safe home-like environments built upon love, respect and dignity where the children start new lives with new chances, new choices and new hope. We give them dreams.