<p>Liberty Youth Ranch man’s dream</p><p>Contract for land secured; private funds needed</p><p>By RYAN HIRAKI, [email protected] Published by news-press.com on July 6, 2004</p><p>Alan Dimmitt’s story impressed them. </p><p>Dimmitt overcame the death of his parents, abandonment by his stepmother and four days living on the Fort Worth, Texas, streets, all when he was 13. </p><p>He gave Bonita Springs residents Sam and Dorothy Crisafulli enough reasons to sell one of their properties. </p><p>Dimmitt, 31, wants to build a youth ranch in the northeast area of the city. </p><p>“Other people had approached them to see if they would sell, but this is the first time they actually considered it,” said Gail Gonzalez, 54, the Crisafullis’ daughter. </p><p>She and her husband, Angel, a real estate agent with Downing-Frye in Bonita, negotiated the $3.12-million contract for her parents’ 156-acre property east of Interstate 75 and west of the city’s Citrus Park neighborhood. </p><p>The contract, agreed upon on June 24, gives Dimmitt 150 days to raise the private funding. He has 139 days left. He needs to raise at least $8.9 million for the ranch, which would be completed by 2013. The first phase of the project, which includes two cottages, would be finished by 2007. </p><p>If he finds the funding, the Liberty Youth Ranch will become home to 50 abused, neglected, abandoned or orphaned children ages 4 to 17. And Dimmitt stresses that these will be children with no criminal or juvenile record, or drug and alcohol abuse problems. </p><p>“Children who, at no fault of their own, have been left without someone to love them and properly care for them,” Dimmitt said. </p><p>“We earnestly hope the community, businesses, foundations and churches will match the generosity of the Crisafulli family.” </p><p>The Crisafullis are happy to help Dimmitt. </p><p>“No better buyer could exist,” Gonzalez said. “My father will always give back if he can.” </p><p>Gonzalez calls her 82-year-old father a self-made man. He moved to America from Sicily when he was a teenager, and later owned a bushel basket business in New York. He moved to Bonita in 1961, where he had an excavation business. </p><p>The Crisafullis still live in the same two-bedroom house in Old Bonita that they bought more than 40 years ago. </p><p>“They set an example,” Dimmitt said. “If Sam and Dorothy can do something this generous, I hope the rest of the community can follow their lead.” </p><p>The only long-term residence for children in Southwest Florida is Florida Baptist Children’s Home in Fort Myers. </p>