[1] Between 1998–2014, it was the site of a non-profit charitable program for seriously ill children, founded by long-time radio personality Don Imus and his wife, Deirdre.
[2] The main ranch house is a 14,000 sq ft (1,300 m2) adobe hacienda with Native American rugs and rustic chandeliers in the great room.
It had five bedrooms for the ten children who attended each week in the summer, a library, and a dining hall which served only vegetarian meals.
The Hackensack University Medical Center provided physicians, nurses, and guidance counselors who attended the ranch sessions.
For seven days, the children were expected to perform chores and tasks as if they were cowboys, such as caring for horses, in order to gain self-esteem.
[7] During a typical day, the children performed chores beginning early in the morning, such as feeding the various ranch animals, watering plants, gathering eggs, and saddling horses for a two-hour ride led by the Imuses.
[2] In March 2005, a Wall Street Journal reporter wrote an article critical of the ranch and the amount of money spent on each child.
[11] The Imus Ranch's annual operating cost of $1.8 million was raised by various corporate sponsors and individual contributions, enabling the youth to attend at no charge.
Major donors included Reader's Digest, for which the ranch's "locale" was named, Unilever, and Wrangler Jeans, among others.
[12] Artists who agreed to record for the project include Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Dwight Yoakam, Patty Loveless, Randy Travis, Little Richard, and Lucinda Williams.
[12] In his broadcast on September 9, 2014, Imus announced the discontinuation of the ranch program, after 16 years of operation, due to his "health and other issues".
[4] The ranch was finally sold in April 2018 to Patrick Gottsch (Imus's former employer at RFD-TV and the founder of Rural Media Group) for $12.5 million.