The Jae Foundation has purchased a ranch south of Twin Falls city limits that will be turned into the Boot-Check Sports Ranch, which will be available for use by the community. The ranch totals 26 acres and was funded with the help of five families.
The Jae Foundation is a local organization founded with the goal of raising awareness for mental health and suicide prevention.
“[The Boot-Check Sports Ranch] is a sister nonprofit, so they will be different entities altogether,” said Mrs. Kelsey Dietz, the President of Jae’s Place in Twin Falls. “However, we’ll have a lot of programming that will coexist. The Jae Foundation currently runs a lot of retreats for teens, which will more than likely be run here instead of in Wyoming.”
The sports ranch aims at using sports to “create teamwork, leadership, growth, [and] focus,” said Dietz. “Sports will be generally what people think of right away when they think of the sports ranch, but there’s a lot more focused than just sports here. There’s a need for our youth to be able to have a safe space to go to and grow,” said Dietz.
The current plan for the Boot-Check Sports Ranch is to build five gym floors, which can be used as five basketball courts or ten volleyball courts. There will also be a sports performance area with a weight room, a baseball and softball area, equine experiences, fishing, a walking path on the perimeter of the property, and overall experiences which will “speak to the nature of the property,” according to Dietz.
According to a quote given to KMVT, Jae Foundation founder Jason Vickery said, “I think there’s gonna be so many opportunities just to use the space.”
“The community is really excited for all the [activities] because there’s not really something like this all in one place for the community,” said Dietz. “Even city officials are really excited about what we’re doing out here.”
The Boot-Check Sports Ranch is a community-supported nonprofit that will be “a lot, if not all, reliant on donors,” explained Dietz. Due to that factor, there is no set date for when the Boot-Check Sports Ranch will be open to the public.
“I think the success of the ranch will be measured in how self-sustaining the ranch is and how many kids we can impact annually,” said Dietz. “If we can just save one life, that’s good. We’re here for mental health awareness and suicide prevention.”
