Just before sunrise on a recent Friday, the Mojave Desert is only beginning to stir as dozens of men pack the dining room at River’s Edge Ranch, a Christian-based residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility in remote Lucerne Valley.
As a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy cooks in the kitchen and fresh coffee brews, ranch leader Brandon Paul stands before dozens of men gathered on a couch and around tables to read aloud the day’s work assignments. Cows, pigs and chickens need feeding, horses must be brushed and walked, stalls cleaned, and much more.
After breakfast, the men fan out across the 20-acre ranch hauling wheelbarrows, shovels and rakes to begin the day’s work — a major component of the faith-based program ranch leaders say is vital to the residents’ recovery.
“It’s been a blessing for me, not waking up sick or worrying about where I’m going to get food,” said Rodney Mora, 45, of Fontana, a recovering alcoholic in his second stay at River’s Edge who now helps oversee daily operations as the ranch’s yard boss. “Now I enjoy my days. I get to wake up with the sun … and I don’t have to be drunk to do it.”
River’s Edge Ranch has helped hundreds of men recover from addiction over the past two decades through a program centered on hard work, discipline and Christian faith. The ranch currently houses 38 residents and claims an 85% success rate. It draws men seeking faith-based recovery from across California and beyond, earning support from public officials, mental health professionals and private donors who view it as a rare resource for addressing addiction, homelessness and housing instability.
There is no cost to attend, only a desire to get clean, work hard and participate in the program, which includes daily Bible studies and church on Sundays.
Must be ready to commit
Days at River’s Edge typically begin at 4 a.m. with prayer, breakfast and individual assignments before ranch work is done throughout the morning: grooming and walking the horses, feeding the cows, pigs and chickens, and mucking stalls. Afternoons consist of worship and household chores. About 16 loads of laundry get done a day.
After some free downtime, lights go out at 9:30 p.m.
Ranch leaders issue an admonition to those considering applying for residency: make sure you’re ready to commit to hard work and the faith-based program.
There are, however, a few restrictions. Because River’s Edge is a nonmedical facility, it does not accept anyone who requires medical or psychiatric medication regimens. People with those needs are referred to Cedar House Life Change Center in Bloomington or the Beacon House Association of San Pedro.
Additionally, the physical demands of ranch work also make River’s Edge unsuitable for people with mobility impairments, and sex offenders also are restricted from the program. Fighting, drugs and alcohol result in immediate expulsion.
River’s Edge partners with the High Desert Child, Adolescent & Family Services Center in Barstow to provide counseling services to its residents twice a week via telehealth.
Applicants can apply online and usually hear back within an hour for an assessment, CEO Doug Whiteman said. The ranch currently has a capacity for 40 residents, so it is not uncommon to have to wait for a bed to open up, though future expansion will add more capacity.
Men who complete a year in the program receive a car for graduation and transition into residential group homes in Fontana or San Bernardino, where jobs often are already lined up for them through companies connected to the ranch.
“We usually don’t have any problem finding them jobs, and we help them with their first month’s rent,” Whiteman said. “When they start working, they start paying $900 a month for rent and utilities.”
Some residents, especially ones with families, eventually move into their own apartments, while others stay longer at the ranch if they’re not ready to leave. Some have stayed up to four years, Whiteman said.
Success stories
Mora, the recovering alcoholic from Fontana, was about two months shy of completing his first year at the ranch in April 2020 when he was expelled from the program after returning from an errand intoxicated. His story is a familiar one in the life of an addict/alcoholic: His parents threw him out of the house, he lost jobs, was arrested, and landed in jail and the hospital on more than one occasion. He nearly died after lapsing into a coma.
Although it took another five years, Mora — with the encouragement of his family — returned to River’s Edge in October 2025, this time determined to get clean.
“I’m able to find joy in simple things again, plus my mind is clearer and I can remember things easily again,” said Mora, clipboard in hand as he navigated from one part of the ranch to the next making sure everyone had what they needed and everything was in order.
He stopped at the horse stalls, where “ranchers” were busy brushing two horses, Eve and Crazy Eyes, and mucking the stalls. Tickle, a mini-horse, stood in a neighboring stall, staring curiously at all the activity.
Mora said equine therapy is part of the River’s Edge program, helping resident ranchers form bonds, develop empathy and establish trust.
“We’ve seen that it does help people be able to relate to one another. It teaches them to be open to whatever they’re dealing with, how to relate to one another, understanding that everybody has their own issues and problems,” Mora said.
Raymond Ramirez, 43, of San Bernardino raked the infield of a newly built softball diamond, preparing it for the ranch’s new softball team that begins hosting games next month.
“This is the best thing for me. I feel safe here,” said Ramirez, who had been at the ranch 38 days and sober for 40 days.
Before River’s Edge, Ramirez said he spent years homeless in San Bernardino battling a 26-year methamphetamine addiction, stealing and robbing to support his habit. When he arrived at the ranch, he said he was barely able to speak and his cheeks were sunken from physical deterioration. In recent months, he has reconnected with his 9-year-old daughter, who hardly recognized him during a visit.
“She was like, ‘Dad?’ ” Ramirez said, adding that his estranged girlfriend told him, “I haven’t seen you look this good in 18 years.”
When his mother visited, Ramirez said, she broke down crying. “I haven’t seen her this proud of me since I graduated high school,” he said.
From resident to COO
Some longtime residents at the ranch have transitioned into employment. Chief Operating Officer Bradley Ladua arrived in 2019 while living in his car, and River’s Edge was his fifth attempt at rehab. He said his first two weeks were his hardest, but then things started gradually getting better.
“I wanted to leave every day, but it was a bed, it was a shower, and it was better than living in my car,” said Ladua, 28, of Rancho Cucamonga. He said he went back to school and, with tuition help from the ranch, earned a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from California Baptist University in Riverside while in the program.
Ladua, now also the ranch’s program director, said River’s Edge finally gave him purpose instead of simply survival.
“I had already been in five rehabs in Orange County, and most of them revolved around meetings and sitting in groups all day. The ranch was different,” Ladua said. “The work gave me purpose. Being around these massive, beautiful horses every day, building garages, sheds and working with my hands gave me something real to take pride in.”
He said the bonds formed within the ranch “brotherhood” left an indelible imprint.
“When you live, work, eat, and struggle together every day, you build real bonds and hold each other accountable,” Ladua said. “The ranch gave me structure, purpose and genuine connection, which were all things I was missing before.”
Ranch origins
River’s Edge was founded in 2007 by Gary Hornsby, who converted to Christianity while serving prison time in the late 1980s for assaulting a police officer and possession of methamphetamine for sale. After his 1990 release, he became an ordained minister, led a street ministry and founded River’s Edge Church in Rancho Cucamonga in 2001. In 2007, he expanded into addiction recovery with visions of starting a ranch.
Hornsby learned about a former rehabilitation center for retired racehorses on the northeastern outskirts of Lucerne Valley that was long abandoned and badly deteriorated. After hearing Hornsby’s plans, the owner agreed to sell the property for $100,000. Despite the collapsing real estate market, Hornsby put down $10,000 and later received $130,000 in church donations to renovate the site.
“It was totally dilapidated. It took about a year just to get it livable,” Hornsby said. “Then we just kept building.”
Fueled by donations, fundraisers and public and private support, the ranch steadily expanded.
River’s Edge now includes six properties across the High Desert and San Bernardino Valley, including transitional group homes and apartments in Fontana and San Bernardino. Whiteman said a $500,000 grant from a private Temecula-based foundation in 2015 helped pay off the 20-acre Lucerne Valley ranch and another 2-acre property on State Route 18 with three modulars that house residents.
River’s Edge also recently acquired the former Pine Ridge Treatment Center in Lucerne Valley, a 7-acre property with nine buildings that will add 20 beds.
In February, River’s Edge opened a women’s ranch in Apple Valley — a leased modular on 1 acre along the Mojave River — housing seven women. It will relocate in July to a larger, permanent property in Fontana and have animals, said women’s ranch director Michelle Mendoza.
Women’s ranch
Among residents at the women’s ranch is 29-year-old Sarai Rodarte of Long Beach, who was molested as a child by a family member and homeless by 14 after her father abandoned the family.
She spiraled into meth addiction, gang involvement and years of crime across Southern California. She sold meth, committed petty thefts and residential burglaries to feed her addiction, and cycled through Los Padrinos and Sylmar juvenile halls, Folsom and Chowchilla prisons, and jails in San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles and Orange counties.
“I was always high when I was doing the crimes,” said Rodarte, sitting on the front deck outside the women’s ranch, where she had been clean for 32 days at the time. Rodarte said she realized she had hit bottom after she was arrested for stealing a bathing suit from a Walmart in Victorville, which happened about four months after she was released on bail following an arrest for stealing various items — cosmetics, jewelry and clothing — from Ontario Mills mall.
The mother of an infant and 10-year-old sons, Rodarte said she tired of getting high, arrested and incarcerated, and was desperate for change. She said her boyfriend, Daniel, a former resident at River’s Edge himself, told her about the women’s ranch opening, and she agreed to go.
Rodarte said River’s Edge has helped her to communicate openly about years of suppressed pain and trauma. Through counseling, community and faith, she said she has found healing, happiness and a sense of trust she once thought impossible.
“I wish I would have done this earlier in my life — just opening up and talking about things, learning about others and not judging,” Rodarte said. “I do feel I can trust. I’m a lot happier. I don’t have anxiety. I don’t have dark thoughts. I believe this was all part of God’s plan.”
Growth and support
When River’s Edge Ranch and Church founder Gary Hornsby resigned in 2015 due to health and personal reasons, he turned the church over to associate pastor Doug Hefley. The ranch, which became an independent nonprofit in 2011, aligned with Water of Life Community Church, which has a nonprofit outreach arm, CityLink, that regularly refers people struggling with addiction and homelessness to River’s Edge. Ranch residents attend church every Sunday at Water of Life.
San Bernardino County Supervisor Jesse Armendarez, a member of Water of Life, said he became interested in River’s Edge long before he ever got involved in civic life, after a family friend’s son overcame an OxyContin addiction at the ranch.
“Just to see that conversion with that young man, I got intrigued,” Armendarez said. As county supervisor, Armendarez helped secure hundreds of thousands of dollars for the establishment of the women’s ranch, expansion efforts and the ranch’s animal therapy program.
For Armendarez, addiction is personal. Throughout his childhood, his father struggled with methamphetamine addiction. “My heart does go out to those who are addicted because I know that struggle is real. I watched it first hand,” he said.
Supervisor Paul Cook said he became interested in River’s Edge after learning about it from Armendarez, and was impressed with its results helping residents struggling with addiction, mental illness and homelessness.
“I’m extremely proud of the work that is being done at the ranch,” Cook said. “Many county residents face a constant struggle with the revolving door between substance abuse, mental health challenges and homelessness. River’s Edge Ranch provides our county residents with an opportunity to turn their lives around.”
River’s Edge also has partnered with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department to refer inmates from Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center to the ranch through a new program tentatively titled New Beginnings, which is set to launch next year.
Sheriff Shannon Dicus called the ranch “more than a program,” and praised it for giving men leaving incarceration “structure, accountability and, most importantly, hope.”
“I believe in River’s Edge Ranch because they meet people at their lowest point and show them a path forward,” Dicus said. “Through faith, hard work and guidance, these men are learning how to rebuild their lives with purpose and integrity. Their stories of overcoming addiction, loss and hardship are powerful reminders that no one is beyond redemption.”