Parts of Del�s childhood were so traumatic that some memories are completely blocked. It�s as if his mind erased the parts no six-year-old should ever have to go through. But he will never forget the moment that changed his life, when a program director at the Idaho Youth Ranch refused to give up on him.
Del Morgan is the Alumni Relations Coordinator for IYR and he previously served as the agency�s E-commerce Manager. He earned both positions because of his business knowledge and skills. But he got his knowledge about how IYR heals broken, hurting children from first-hand experience.
(**Watch Del's video interview and Success Stories from other IYR alumni)
�My earliest childhood memory is of my mother�s boyfriend stripping me naked and beating me with a coat hanger from the back of my knees to the middle of my back,� Del said in a recent interview. �And the one person we were taught was supposed to protect us, our mother, was my biggest abuser.�
In drunken rages, his mother sometimes threatened Del and his stepfather with a shotgun. On one occasion she shot out the back window of the car as they pulled away. Del�s mom would go to bars for hours on end, leaving his little brother at home in his crib with a bottle and no supervision until Del got home from school.
Not surprisingly, Del tried to survive by running away. This landed him in the state juvenile system and a series of foster homes and group homes, but none of them could give him the help he so desperately needed. It was a long, hard road that finally brought him to IYR�s Ranch Campus at Rupert.
The Ranch�s program director managed to get Del to unleash the pain and anger he had bottled up for so long. When Del started throwing punches, the director �actually grabbed me in a bear hug. He held on so tight I thought he was going to squeeze the life out of me. The whole time he kept saying, �Go ahead and let it out. I am not going anywhere. I love you. I will not let you go.��
�His actions and words finally brought my walls down just enough for a few people to finally get in�, Del continued. This began his path to a new, promising future and what would become a lifelong relationship with the Idaho Youth Ranch.
�When you donate your time or hard-earned dollars to the Idaho Youth Ranch, you are not just changing an abused child�s life,� he said, �You might be saving this child�s life. I know the Idaho Youth Ranch saved my life and I owe my life, my family and every success I have ever achieved to this organization.�
