2021 Annual Report

A Story from an SLR Alumni Growth Will Come

My background includes nearly two decades of mental illness ranging from high school for social anxiety, to a psychiatric hospitalization, to continuing struggles to this day. I grappled a lot with the purpose of my life and often experienced suicidal ideations.

I was working and living solidly for a while; stable, but still hurting. I hit an endpoint in 2018 when I tried living with roommates in a city near home. It was one of my worst living experiences ever, including living on my own in college.

I am living now at the townhouse in Rutland, and my daily life couldn’t be what it is without the help of the Ranch staff who promote an atmosphere of positivity and a welcoming environment.

I now live a life I never thought I could; thanks to the program I am able to manage being an independent, self-reliant adult.

My advice to residents struggling is that growth will come but it takes time and a willingness to get better. I highly recommend the Ranch for people who struggle with mental illness.

Updates from the Year

Spring Lake Ranch sponsored and partnered with several area organizations this year, and were happy to create a more solid connection with our broader community. These included: Bridge to Rutland, Chaffee Art Center, Vermont Farmacy Project, VT Common Good, and Rutland NAACP.

The Work Program has two residents working within the Advanced Crew Experience (ACE) program to expand the skills they’re learning at the Ranch. One of them is honing his pig raising skills, and the other is crafting building design.

Staying in weekly contact with our licensing agency and the Vermont Department of Health ensured we were doing all that we can to keep our community safe. We’re also glad to report that 96% of staff are vaccinated.

Our careers page got a refresh and now includes more information for potential employees to learn about what it’s like to work at the Ranch, including tangible information on benefits, testimonials from current staff members, and more.

The Clinical Program team developed new tools for supporting residents and families around discharge planning. We have found that while the level of needed support varies, in all circumstances it was welcomed and appreciated. This increases our ability to be a resource for families and residents during the immediate transition out of our program.

After several years of preparation, we were awarded the Three-Year Accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Residential Facilities (CARF). This accreditation recognized our ongoing commitment to quality care and improving lives as well as conformance to over 1,400 behavioral health standards for residential treatment.

The admissions team was able to help maintain an average daily census on the Hill of 27 residents, which is 24% higher than the previous year, and equates to an average of five more residents supported every day.

Thanks to our donors, we were able to offer financial aid to every person who applied, including one package of 70%.

A Story from an SLR Alumni Parent Healthy and Happier

Eight hundred and forty-one thousand.  That number has haunted me since I heard it in a news blip on the radio. It is the amount of drug overdose deaths recorded by the CDC since 1999.  My child was born in 1992. She could have so easily been one of those. I don’t know when or how it started. I might never. 

She had successfully lived several hours from home for the past 10 years with brief holiday visits as her life allowed. In October, her sister described incidents of erratic behavior. Thanksgiving was unusually tense. She came home to visit at Christmas but stayed because, unable to cope with hiding an addiction anymore, she chose to take an overdose of sleeping pills. We barely found her in time. It was over a week in the ICU, many of those days in a medically induced coma, before her breathing and heart rate stabilized. I watched the New Year’s fireworks from the hospital windows in the same building where she was born. 

Despite this, she somehow recovered, got a job, and found new financial resources to support her addiction. I scoured the internet for recovery programs to send information to her. By God’s grace, Spring Lake Ranch was one of the places that responded. I am so happy I can say last Christmas was her first at Spring Lake Ranch.

Only a year after her suicide attempt, she is healthier and happier than I could ever have imagined. The ongoing support and expertise of the Ranch community and her ability to make meaningful contributions to that community has saved her life. I am amazed by this beautiful young woman who can now express ideas and feelings, mentions plans for a future, and can navigate challenges, thanks to the intervention of Spring Lake Ranch.

“The ongoing support and expertise of the Ranch community and her ability to make meaningful contributions to that community has saved her life.”

Financial Statement

Fiscal Year 2020-2021

REVENUE

Cuttingsville Program Fees – $3,608,743.29
Elliot House Program Fees – $508,108.00
Rutland Program Fees – $318,967.41
Fundraising Revenue – $618,746.09
Investment Income – $1,529,762.21
PPP Loan Forgiveness – $621,600.00
Other Income – $137,620.55

EXPENSES

Cuttingsville Program Financial Aid – $279,840.00
Rutland Financial Aid – $11,739.50
Elliot House Financial Aid – $61,939.68
General, Administrative, and Dining Expenses – $3,363,825.04
Development Expenses – $15,571.32
Dining Expenses – $182,221.37
Logistics and Facilities – $264,264.00
Direct Programming Expenses – $151,281.19
Resident Services – $96,744.71
Rutland Expenses – $140,278.99
Other Expenditures – $54,559.39

TOTALS

Total Revenue – $7,343,547.55
Total Expenses – $4,622,265.19 

NET REVENUE – $2,721,282.36 

 

A letter from our Executive Director Executive Summary

Despite the continuation of an unprecedented global pandemic, Spring Lake Ranch spent the 2020-2021 fiscal year strengthening and investing in our mission to support and empower people with mental health and substance abuse issues. While it wasn’t a year without challenges, we were proud to offer more varied programming than ever before, serve more residents than ever before, and grant more financial aid than ever before. While growing our programming, we also invested time refining and improving our internal systems, procedures, and policies, to make us more efficient and effective in our work of helping residents develop the confidence and skills to recover. I’m happy to share that the work paid off: 95% of families surveyed would recommend Spring Lake Ranch to others. I thank our dedicated supporters, staff, and community, who truly went above and beyond this past year.

Spring Lake Ranch began the year finalizing preparations for the Commission on Accreditation of Residential Facilities (CARF). We were incredibly grateful to be awarded a three-year accreditation, which is the highest commendation they offer. This marks several years of hard work by SLR staff to put our systems, tools, and processes in order as per the 1,400 standards expected by CARF. 

Our Work Program continued to offer the tremendous support to residents that we’ve been known for since 1932. In the past year we saw unexpected turnover of this department’s senior management, but none-the-less the team not only continued to offer outstanding programming but also added several new activities such as bee-keeping, mushroom farming (over 200 pounds!), and growing herbs. From our family exit surveys we know that the highest-ranking reasons families choose Spring Lake Ranch are the natural setting and the focus on work, and it’s our intention to keep increasing our efforts in this area.

On the clinical front, this past year SLR worked on consolidating our program services. The department team size was slightly reduced, case managers were added under the clinical team supervision, and an increase in recovery meetings were offered to our residents. While we were still limiting trips off the Hill due to COVID, we were able to provide residents with a robust scope of on-site recovery options, ranging from AA/NA/MA meetings, Refuge, and SMART Recovery, as well as one-on-one recovery sessions.

The past fiscal year marked the first full year operating our transitional program out of Elliot House, based on the Hill in Cuttingsville. The year closed with twice as many residents in that program as it had in the final year it was located in Royce Street. Residents at Elliot have the best of both worlds with full access to all Cuttingsville programs and services as well as additional opportunities to challenge themselves.

Our admissions team was tasked with supporting a year-round census of 20 people and were able to exceed that with an overall average of 22.5 residents in our main Cuttingsville program. This increase is likely to be semi-associated with longer length of stays that we have observed during the pandemic. As a result of higher numbers of residents than anticipated, as well as our generous donors, we ended the year on a financially healthy note. Our donors invested over $575,000 in our financial aid and programming, for which we are so thankful. 

In the last quarter, we introduced our new logo to you, which melded an homage to the past while looking forward to what’s ahead. With almost 90 years behind us, Spring Lake Ranch owes a debt of gratitude to our history. While honoring previous work, we also envision what we can continue to build and create with our community in the days and years to come. We look forward to sharing it all with you.

THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS

Spring Lake Ranch relies on the support of our donors, and we are grateful to those listed below for their gifts received between September 1, 2020 and August 31, 2021. We’re also pleased to recognize those who have made 25 or more lifetime gifts to Spring Lake Ranch, as well as our sustaining donors.

= Sustaining Donors

+ = 25 or more lifetime gifts

A-C

Guilliaem Aertsen
Joseph Aiello & Mary Mitchell
Connie & Mark Alesse
Jim Alic and Jacalyn Diesenhouse  +
Margaret Allen
Leland Alper  +
AmazonSmile Foundation
Brenda & Gene Anastasio  +
Christine Aquino
Thomas Avenia
Spencer Backman
The Backman Family
Carl & Tracy Badenhausen
Rick Balkin & Felice Swados
Robert & Patricia Banach
Tricia Bannon ∞
Ellen Ivey Bates
Mary Ellen Beall  +
Brett Berliner & Sharon Stowers
John & Linda Berryhill  +
Amber Berryhill Voss
Ludy Biddle
Dave Bilyeu
Blue Yak Foundation
Camilla & Michael Bowater  +
Susie & Woody Bowman
Ned & Wendy Brokaw
Bill Bull
Rod S. Butler  +
Brian & Kelley Buttrick
Linda Cain
Amelia Campbell
Lisah & Scott Carpenter
Carpet King of Vermont
Steve & Audrey Cecil
William Cereske
Ayco Charitable Foundation
Reed Cherington
Peri Chickering
The Chicoine Family
CitiGroup
Leith Clews
Tom & Tabby Cochran  +
Anne & Sean Coffey
Ellie Collinson
Susan Collinson ∞
Stuart Collinson
Chris Colm 

C-H

Lisa Comis
M.G. O’Neil Foundation
Francis Coolidge
Dr. Thomas Curchin & Sara Kinter
David Cutler
Kathryn Dangler
Donald Davidson
Stephen & Ann Davis
DBA Salmon and Nostrand Law Offices
Pamelia DeWitt
Miles Dinner
Lory Doolittle
Gail Dougherty
Bob Downs and Carol Hampton
Jane Dubbe
Lisa Duke
George B. Duke Sr
Eloise Eager
Elizabeth Eagle
Judith Elkin & Eugene Fleishman  +
Anne  Ellsworth  +
Doug & Marsha Erb
Frank Faltus
Nancy Ferguson
Wayne Fisher
Henry Fisher
Mark & Kelly Fleckenstein
Aili Flint  +
Cathy Fondrk ∞
Melissa Fritschka
Bob & Janet Fronk
Elizabeth Gable
Arthur Gardiner
Rebekah Gardner
Debra & David Gardner
Scott Garren & Heather Shay ∞
Elizabeth Gartrell Zeller
Larry Gentile
Frederick & Kathleen Godley
Toby Goldsmith
Deborah S. Grasberger
Michael Greenstein & Nettie Kurtz  +
Henry Gregory
Margee & Dave Grow
Olliver Hackerson
Christie Hakim
Terry & Bonnie Hanley
Cynthia Hanson  

H-M

Terri Harrington & Rodney Stork ∞
Ian & Caryn Harris
Neil and Debbie Harrison
Walter F. Harrison III  +
Ann Hartenstein
Gloria Hartlaub
Alfred Hayward
Rebecca Moore & David Hedden
Tracy & Katherine Henderson
Jim & Kathy Hennessey
The Hines Family
Richard & Nancy Hopkins  +
Thomas & Nancy Jantzen
Rachel Jendrzejewski
Amy and Andrew Jendrzejewski
Matthew Jenkins
Dan & Shelley Jerman  +
John C. and Mary Jane Howard Foundation
Ellen Jorgensen
Rachel Kaminsky
Carol Kaminsky  +
Adrienne Kimball
Kinney Pike Insurance, Inc.
Caitlin & Will Krzewick ∞
Patricia & Kevin Kuntz
Suzette Labonne
Linnea & Harlan Lachman  +
Fred and Michelle LaGroue
Mary LaMuraglia
Jessica Landecker
Francis Laws
Jack & Jane Lea
Cheryl Le Clair & Edward Newman
Eric Lee
Willem Leenman
Lisa Elliot & Thomas Leitch
Martha Leo
Jennifer Lepisko
Michael & Sandra Levine
Marcos & Turiya Levy
Jill Loeber
Jane Lombard  +
Dr. Paul  & Jan Lombroso  +
Steven Maass
Nicki Macallair
Anthony Man & Clayton Brown
Lisa Maneval & Jonathan Woods
Susan & Leonard Mark  

M-R

P. Gail Martin
Catherine Martin
Dr. Bruce Maslack & Suzanne Lynch ∞
Marie McBennett
Lynn McDermott  +
Karen McDowell ∞
Jane Larson McGuirk
Astrid and Boyd McHugh
Phyllis Mazurski & Patrick McKee
Daryl and Dot McMath
Ronald Meissen
Barbara Meyer
Muffie Milens ∞
Adrienne & Robert Miller
Linda & Lane Miller ∞
Lida Miner
David Mirsky, M.D.  +
Susan Molloy
Kevin Molloy
Dianne Monaco
Jane & Robert Morse  +
Mary Clark Moschella
Al Moss
Christine Mueller
Barbara Murray
Sarah Neilson
Network For Good
Claire Noble
David Nutt
Paula K. Oppenheim  +
Pamela Ossont
Simon Paddock
Vicki & Frank Panetta
Graham Parker
Jill & Stephen Parkosewich
Lois Parpala
Mr. & Mrs. David Parshall
Mimi Peabody
Lori & Daniel Perry
Lisa & Zoe Perry-Wood ∞
Elicia and Brian Pinsonault ∞
Debby Popkin & Dan Wilensky
The Posner/Rosen Family  +
Raymond & Meredith Pratt
Jesse Pyles
John Quimby & Michael O’Donnell
Meg Ramsey and John McCluskey  

R-S

Niki Reed
Jonathan Resnik
Joanne & Grant Reynolds
Bradley Reynolds
Jean Rhodes
Jean Richon
Susan & Tom Riley
Anne Roberts
Andrea Rogers
Maria Rolph ∞
Betsy and Mark Rose
The Rosenwasser Family
Susan & Gene Rosner
Allen Ross
Dan Rouse
Carole & David Rubin
Alissa Johannsen Rubin  +
Kathy Salem  +
160 Boylston Street
Anne Sarcka  +
The Scannell Family
Charitable Fund
Molly Schechter
Liz & Ed Schecter
Harvey & Happy Scherer  +
Christine Schmigel
Catherine & John Schneider
Miller Schweizer
Maria Scibetta & Rich DiBianca
Whitney & Susan Scott
Marcie & Bill Scudder
John F. Sears  +
Gregory & Elizabeth Sembler
Carol Kabis Sheats
Richard & Marilyn Sheldon  +
Anne & Pete Sheret  +
Pricilla Short ∞
Marjorie Shulbank & Allen
David Silber & Devora Steinmetz
Karen G. Silverman ∞
Dr. Irwin Sollinger
Joanne Steinhart
Janet Stocker
Rose Stockton
Christina Stone
Nathaniel & Sharon Stout
Jim & Margaret Strickler
Kathleen Sullivan  +

S-Z

Jim & Rebecca Sweet
Phyllis Tarbell ∞
The Huggable Horribles
The Sprinkler Connection
The Tobin Family Foundation
Mr. Wallace Thompson  +
Patrick Tisdale
Clark & Joyce Tomlinson
Lisa & Robert Toomey
Eric Touchette
Emanuel & Barbara Tsarnas
Osahon & Lucy Ukponmwan
Ann Vanneman ∞
Marcy Venezia
Deanna Vincent
David Woods
Thomas & Dorothy Walsh
Jolene & Jim Warnke
Harry Welch
Geoff Wells
Michael & Phyllis Wells  +
Jonathon & Lucretia Wells ∞
Jennine Williamson & John Fitzgerald
Lee Wilson
Linnea Wilson Hayward
W.M. Wingate, Jr.
Lawrence Winship & Ellen Donkin
Ingrid & Jason Wisell
Russ Wolf & Marty Gilpatrick
Ed & Theresa Woodland
Robyn & Jim Worthington
Francis Wyatt
Michael Zeldin
R. Zoppo
Sally & Bill Zoppo
Anonymous (29)

CARF Accredited: Spring Lake Ranch programs are CARF accredited. The CARF accreditation signals our commitment to continually improving services, encouraging feedback, and serving the community.

Spring Lake Ranch is a member of the American Residential Treatment Association (ARTA). ARTA members are dedicated to providing extraordinary care to adults with mental illness.