The freedom to dream, to imagine a future, to live in hope, is a very natural unique human drive but we are starting to see it being crushed in our current social climate. Hi, my name is Greg Floyd and along with my wife Dawn we are the founders of Cowboys 4 Kids, a registered charity that is working with children within the foster care system. Dawn is a very talented business woman and I\u2019m an ol\u2019 cowboy, horse trainer, ex bull rider and pastor. We have 6 kids and 8 grandchildren. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We had a dream, a vision of a cowboy ranch 28 years ago, to be helping children that were within the foster care system. Timing wasn\u2019t right back then with family and businesses to take care of but that dream was always in the forefront of our minds. The passion and hope of this vision becoming a reality allowed us to be patient and wait for the right season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have been on Beulah Ranch for 7 years now and our dream has become a reality. We have been running our \u2018Equine Assisted\u2019 and \u2018Life Skills\u2019 programs for 6 years in the beautiful Yarramalong valley on the Central Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Children who find themselves within the foster care system, due to no fault of their own, are dealing with PTSD as young as 6 year old, the effects of sexual abuse, emotional and physical disabilities, self-esteem trauma and the list goes on. Our \u2018Equine Assisted\u2019 program does not include riding as this requires a directional experience for the child, whereas the ground work with the horses brings an experiential experience. Our Life Skills program is a workshop experience where the child flows from their head to their hands to unlock their innate skills and talents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have just had our first graduate from our new \u2018Work Experience\u2019 program and we are so proud of what this young man has achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We also run a school holiday program called \u2018Intervention Family\u2019 where we have camps for families at-risk, working with the children and their parents together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our developing vision is to build infrastructure to support our extended programs and make full use of the 30 acres of Beulah Ranch. This would include rock climbing, a covered arena, an indoor training area, a new state of the art workshop, a music room, and orienteering equipment to take the children into the national park which is easily accessible from the ranch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our longer term vision is to establish other facilities across NSW that allow foster care agencies to obtain access to our programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have a precious resource in Australia and it isn\u2019t in the sea or ground but in our children and at Cowboys 4 Kids our passion is see these precious children restore their ability to dream, to have a rich life living out of hope for the future . <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greg Floyd \u2013 President Cowboys 4 kids<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The freedom to dream, to imagine a future, to live in hope, is a very natural unique human drive but we are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parenting"],"yoast_head":"\n