Balls will once again be falling from the sky on Saturday as the Adult & Teen Challenge annual ball drop fundraising event will be held at noon at Faith Home Ranch, 6643 Faith Home Rd., in Ceres.
The ball drop serves as the organization’s primary fundraising event. Individual golf balls can be purchased for $25 each. All the golf balls are then loaded into a helicopter and dropped from high above a target. The 13 balls that are closest to the bullseye will win a prize — 10 $100 Amazon gift cards, two $500 gift cards and one $1,000 gift card will be awarded.
Balls can be purchased online through Friday at fhtc.life, and can be purchased at Saturday’s event.
Free tacos and free Starbucks coffee will be available for those in attendance.
“Very few people have ever been close to a helicopter,” said Brad Hansen, a nine-year volunteer with ATC. “The helicopter flies right over our heads and then lands. Kids can sit in the back seat and meet the pilot and co-pilot.”
The helicopter will land at approximately 12:30 p.m. and then drop the balls at 12:45.
Adult & Teen Challenge is a faith-faith-based program that helps males overcome addictions of all kinds. It’s a year-long program that has a 70 percent success rate, according to Hansen. Along with the ranch in rural Ceres, Teen Challenge has a treatment facility in Turlock.
“Nationally, those that finish the year-long program, 70 percent never return to their addictions. They also get a job within the first year,” said Hansen. “If they do leave the program before the end of the year, they have to start over. But very few do walk. And then they’re new people. It’s amazing.”
Adult & Teen Challenge offers various services through its Strong Hands program, from helping people move furniture to yard work to painting.
“This program is really the best kept secret in this community,” said Lance Amarante, who was in the program from February 2017 to February 2018 and now serves as the ranch/enterprise supervisor for the 35-acre facility. “God kept me here after I completed the program. And when you have a purpose in God’s will, it’s a lot different than just collecting a paycheck.”
ATC charges $18 per hour, per man (two-man minimum) for most jobs.
“We want to be a blessing to people,” said Amarante. “Some of our work is done on a bid basis. And it depends on what type of talent comes through here. We’ve had some concrete guys in the program so we were able to do driveways and patios. We don’t advertise that because we don’t consistently have that ability.”
Jenny Roots Sousa, owner of Rustic Roots in downtown Turlock, often utilizes ATC manpower.
"They come in here and hang my mirrors, hang my artwork, move all my furniture, make deliveries to my customers … you name it,” said Roots Sousa. “If I’m doing a huge job and I’m a man down, I’ll take them for the entire day. They have a lot of really talented guys there.”
For more information about ATC’s Strong Hands services, call 209-537-0606 or 209-596-0706.
