Star Barn chapel stakes its claim at Freeland nonprofit ranch

Published 1:30 am Friday, June 5, 2026

By KATE POSS

Special to The Record

There’s a new “chapel” in the western-themed town at M-Bar-C Ranch in Freeland.

M-Bar-C Ranch, located on 50 acres in Freeland, was purchased in the 1970s by Seattle families who wished to provide a rural setting for their kids to thrive in and ride horses.

Some of the same Seattle families founded the Forgotten Children’s Fund in the 1970s. The Freeland ranch was later opened to underserved children, offering horseback rides, a western-themed town and a day in the country.

The ranch now serves nearly 2,000 visitors a year from May through September. The Forgotten Children’s Fund is the parent organization of M-Bar-C Ranch. It ensures children and their families who are experiencing financial challenges get to celebrate Christmas with gifts delivered by Santa and his elves.

The M-Bar-C is run by dedicated volunteers who keep the grounds immaculate, care for the ranch’s horses year-round and maintain and improve buildings used by visitors.

Youngsters get to free their imaginations during their four-hour visit from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Kids can choose costumes — imagine a fairy princess wearing cowgirl boots — lock grownups in the jail, visit a bank, spend M-Bar-C ‘money’ at the general store and hotel, visit the post office and chuck wagon kitchen. There’s also the new 140-square-foot Star Barn chapel.

The old chapel, built around 35 years ago, was deteriorating.

“We were afraid the original chapel would blow down,” said Dale Norris, volunteer and program coordinator for M-Bar-C Ranch, where she’s been a volunteer for the past 18 years.

A Whidbey Island couple wanted to donate funds to the Ranch that could be used to build a structure in memory of the husband’s late sister.

Norris had a building in mind. She looked online for a little one-room building, one with a cupola or steeple. The one she found was a ready-made kit crafted in an Amish community in Ohio.

“We found the kit online and presented it to our board of directors,” Norris added. “A group of ‘younger’ men — between late 30s to late 60s — buckled on their tool belts and assembled the chapel in one day. We were most concerned about how to lift the cupola up on the roof. They backed up the Ranch’s Ford 350 flatbed and manhandled it up to fasten it to the roof. ”

An engraved wood plaque affixed to the Star Barn reads: “Star Barn — this is a space for all, whether you come to sit, pray, reflect or find peace. You are welcome here.”

Volunteer Susan Peters added artistic touches to the chapel, painting its ceiling to resemble a blue sky with clouds.

Peters, who has volunteered at M-Bar-C for the past 11 years, enjoys scouring local thrift stores for vintage items to decorate the western town’s buildings. She and another volunteer, Marilyn Mahoney-Scott, updated the chuckwagon kitchen, painting whimsical horse portraits on the walls and rearranging the building’s art to the best effect.

Building by building, volunteers are restoring the “ghost town” appearance of the old structures.

M-Bar-C was recently preparing for opening day. The first group to visit were children and their parents from Trinity Lutheran’s preschool program. Many of the children who visit M-Bar-C have serious health conditions and receive treatment at Seattle clinics, which organize their visits to the Ranch. Other groups from Island County include two Boys & Girls Clubs, and the NAS Whidbey Youth Center.

Parents benefit from the experience as much as their children.

“Parents get a chance to talk with other parents to see if there is anything new in treatments for their children,” Norris said. “We also have several parent to parent support groups, including one from Island County who visits us every year.”

The highlight of the visit for most visitors is riding horses.

“The horses we use must be trained and calm. We have three volunteers per horse — a leader and a side walker on either side,” said Norris. “Some of our visitors on the autism spectrum are nonverbal. We talk to them, point out horses in the pastures and tell them about the Ranch as we walk them around the arena.”

Norris recalled a young boy with an extraordinary fascination with history.

“Other visitors are savants,” said Norris, adding an anecdote about one of the Ranch’s visitors.

“There was a young boy who was telling me about Napoleon as I walked alongside him. He was riding a white horse. He asked, ‘did you ever see the famous painting where Napoleon is rearing up on his horse?’ He asked if he could do that. I said no, we will not be doing that today. I asked him if he knew the name of Napoleon’s horse. It was Marengo. The horse he was riding got his name changed to Marengo for the day.”

Bob’s Chuckwagon serves a free hot dog lunch to visitors. For those with special dietary needs, Norris advises visitors to bring their own food or a picnic lunch.

The ranch has occupied the land since the early 20th century, when it was first a cattle ranch. Later, Ed Milam raised Herefords until he sold the ranch to Don Rall and Richard “Buck” Francisco, who served as a Marine fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War. Several other families bought “shares” in the Ranch, boarded horses there and visited on weekends to camp and ride.

Francisco founded the Forgotten Children’s Fund. He and several others came up with the idea of inviting small groups of kids and at-risk young adults to come out to the Ranch.

“It wasn’t like the programs we have now,” Norris added. “By the time I became a volunteer, it had become ‘A Day of Western Fun’ program. We keep it unstructured so kids and their families can ride horses, play in Cowboy Town, which is a big draw, do crafts, take a tractor pulled wagon ride and just enjoy being kids.”

The nonprofit offers days at the ranch free to qualifying groups. Reservations are required.

M-Bar-C is supported by grants, donations and fundraisers.

“We are also very fortunate to be a recipient of Michaels Subaru of Bellevue ‘Share the Love’ campaign, where those purchasing a new vehicle can designate a charity for the dealership to donate to,” said Norris. “Their grants paid for a new tractor, farm utility vehicle, infrastructure improvements, fencing, a new horse shelter and outdoor riding arena.”

Norris invites folks to volunteer at the Ranch.

“We always need volunteers to help with the upkeep of the Ranch and the programs. Through restorations and new buildings like the Star Barn chapel, our ultimate vision is to secure the future of this ranch so that its unique power to heal, inspire, and empower special-needs children remains a constant for generations to come.”

To learn more about the M-Bar-C Ranch, visit http://forgottenchildrensfund.org/mbarc-ranch. A video about the ranch is available at https://vimeo.com/rivervoices/mbarc.