The Ryan Newman Foundation

October 15, 2012

It’s so hard to believe fall is already here. The summer flew by and I feel like I missed it. I was so busy with Ashlyn who by the way is growing like a weed. Juggling two kids has taught me how to balance my time and just when I think I’ve got the hang of it, one of them throws me a curve ball and that schedule goes out the door.

Ryan and I are having fun watching the girls grow and enjoy being at home and doing things around the house.

Brooklyn started school a few weeks ago and she loves it. It’s two days a week she gets out of the house for a few hours and gets to play with her little friends. It’s so hard to believe she’ll be two years old next month. It’s crazy how time flies.

This time of season is always busy for Ryan. He’s been traveling quite a bit doing appearances for his sponsors. It’s also hunting season so he’s been doing that and enjoying some downtime with his friends.

I was asked to speak at the ACES International “Business of Saving Lives” Conference in San Diego, so the last week of September our Foundation Director Shelly Nunn and I headed out west and spoke to a group on the importance of working with government agencies and having patience and persistence to learn how laws can be changed in areas in regards to animals. I think the conference went well although it was a quick trip because Ryan was on daddy duty. It was the first time he’d been left with the girls overnight. He did a great job and sent me a lot of pictures and videos. I was only gone a total of 30 hours and missed them dearly. I met a lot of great people that I feel will be great resources not only for myself, but for the Foundation and Rescue Ranch. I was glad I went and hope to build many new friendships. I would love the opportunity to attend again next year if they’ll have me back. I am not a fan of public speaking, but the more I do it the more comfortable I get. This time I didn’t get nervous and my presentation flowed well.

Rescue Ranch isn’t where I had hoped it would be at this time, but it’s moving along. They started digging out the entrance road that will lead to the education building and we’re just waiting on one last permit for the building before they can start on it. Once we get all that going, we’ll be up and running on our education programs hopefully by spring 2013. Our Education Director Angela Morris will join us in next week to start developing our programs, working with the schools, getting our name and word out to the community so they know exactly what is it we are trying to do with the ranch and how our programs will benefit the community. Hopefully we’ll have a timeline on our programs to make Rescue Ranch what we want it to be. I think everyone involved is getting excited.

The Foundation has some wonderful partners. At the Kansas race in a few weeks Ryan will have a new sponsor on the car. Code 3 Associates, based out of Colorado, is new to the sport. People ask what they do and an easy explanation would be they are FEMA for pets when disasters hit. They go into areas with trained teams and perform search and recovery missions. It’s a new partnership, and we’re looking forward to growing the relationship. They’ll be a great source of information for the Ranch.