Manuelito Children’s Home welcomes back WildThing
Last year’s cancellation of WildThing Championship Bullriding presented a particularly difficult obstacle for Manuelito Children’s Home to overcome. It meant the loss of their biggest, most important fundraiser of the year.
The cancellation of a major event such as WildThing Championship Bullriding creates a ripple effect that impacts not only organizers and guests, but also sponsors and local businesses that depend on the support and revenue it generates. That can also affect the bottom line for the entire year.
“Due to the pandemic last year, we missed having the bull ride and did not benefit from any of the fundraisers we normally hold,” Manuelito Children’s Home Superintendent Jim Christian said June 22.
But in addition to the financial strain of losing the fundraiser, Christian said the home also missed out on a crucial social aspect of WildThing.
“We also missed our friends that come from Arkansas to help work the parking and concession,” he said. “We certainly couldn’t pull this off without them. WildThing helps us financially, but it also helps us build relationships with other people who also support us.
“While our donors and local community [have] kept us afloat over the last year, we really missed getting to visit our friends and being involved in activities in the community,” Christian continued, citing the challenges faced in the past year with the pandemic. “We missed going to the library, to the store, going to camp, going fishing, martial arts, and skating.”
In a previous story, WildThing organizer Larry Peterson stated while WildThing has a good economic impact on Gallup, the more significant issue is how it helps the children’s home, which was built in 1959 and founded by a group of people that included Larry’s late father, Joel Peterson.
Christian said the event helps create a lot of awareness that encourages support of the children’s home that wouldn’t be there otherwise.
The children’s home, currently located west of Gallup at 12 Theta Dr., was a dream for Joel Peterson, and it has become his legacy. The home is under the oversight of the Gallup Church of Christ Eldership and aims to provide young people of northwest New Mexico “a place where they can experience the love of a family and support of a loving staff dedicated to do all they can to help nurture children …” according to their website.
The home provides four key services for the children: residential care, educational support, counseling, and spiritual worship.
The Sun previously reported the home has enough space to house about 20 children, but it was always an aim to expand.
“We are working on getting another house licensed and ready to care for children in,” Christian said. “[Fundraising at WildThing] will help greatly toward our expansion of services to care for even more kids.”
With Gallup Christian School being located right on the campus for the home, their students were able to stay on track and keep up with their school work, Christian added.
“One of our students, Dylan, graduated and is headed to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque soon,” he said.
It was previously reported that WildThing could not be fully opened if New Mexico still had COVID-19 restrictions in place. However, with a full state reopening scheduled for July 1, it appears the event could mark a milestone, a complete return from the pandemic.
Christian said staff and children from the home are eager to welcome back their fundraiser for a landmark community event.
“We are very excited to get back to doing things like we have in the past,” Christian said. “WildThing is the perfect event to get us back to ‘normal.’ We are anxious to hear the crowd cheering, and especially for the fireworks show!”
For more information on Manuelito Children’s Home, including where you can support the home, visit them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mnch.gallupnm/ or their website at mnch.org.
