[5] John and Jan Gillespie were thinking about starting a group home for troubled boys and heard that the Starrs had a similar idea.

Seventeen other members of the 1966 Green Bay Packers team, including Fred "Fuzzy" Thurston, Jerry Kramer, and Jim Taylor, joined in to help raise $20,000.

[7] Bart Starr also donated a red 1968 Chevrolet Corvette he had won for his performance in the Super Bowl to be raffled.

[8] Starr led additional fundraising efforts, and helped kickoff the vehicle donation program by sending out a letter across the country.

Previous winners include John McCain, Barbara Bush, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton, and Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

The new psychotherapy program focused on using interactions between the boy, a counselor, his parents, and a horse to improve communications and relationships.

The program focused on helping boys not yet in, but on their way to, serious trouble get their high school diploma and begin post-secondary education.

[20][21] The ranch was named one of 37 winners of George H. W. Bush's annual 1000 Points of Light citations in 1991, selected from among over 4,500 nominations and was now home to 33 boys.

[38][full citation needed] Rawhide is currently a member of: the Wisconsin Association of Family and Children's Agencies (WAFCA),[39] the Wisconsin Association of Child & Youth Care Professionals (WACYCP)[citation needed] and the Alliance for Children and Families (ACF).

[40] In 1982, Wisconsin passed the nation's first LGBT anti-discrimination bill, outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation.

This conflicted with Rawhide's faith-based treatment programs, which were partially based on hiring Christian married couples made up of a man and woman to create a traditional home environment.

[41] In 1987, State Senator Joe Leann, 14th District (Waupaca), introduced a bill, SB 301/AB 527 (commonly called the "Rawhide Act" or "Rawhide Amendment"), to amend the state's civil rights laws to permit faith-based non-profit institutions to discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation, marital status, or religion.

"[42][43] Clarenbach also said the new bill would conform Wisconsin state law to the US Supreme Court decision Corporation of Presiding Bishops vs. Amos, 483 U.S. 327 (1987).