Center provided physicians, nurses, and guidance counselors who attended the ranch sessions. Activities 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. The ranch operated all year but hosted children only when school was not in session, in eight one-week sessions. Nearly half the children were from minority groups; 10% were black. 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. Recreation included swimming, board games, and pool. In a concession to the serious health needs of the campers, the ranch also had qualified personnel present to treat medical needs. During the summer months, Imus broadcast his nationally syndicated radio program, Imus in the Morning, from a studio at the ranch. Occasionally, children attending the ranch appeared on the program along with his wife, Deirdre, and son, Wyatt. History Imus, who was raised on an Arizona ranch, became interested in helping children stricken with cancer after he participated in a New York radio telethon in 1988, raising money for a charity assisting such children. After his marriage to Deirdre Coleman in 1994, the couple decided to build a western ranch where cancer-stricken children could regain their self-esteem by engaging in authentic ranch work. Deirdre Imus said in an American Profile magazine interview, "After working with these kids, we noticed a common theme: they had cancer but they were like normal kids, except they lost their self-esteem. We found no one was actually restoring their self-esteem or dignity." Initially, the Imuses used more than $1 million of their money to purchase for the ranch in 1998. The ranch cost almost $25 million to construct, raised through a public foundation they established. The ranch cost $1.8 million annually to operate. Controversies In March 2005, a Wall Street Journal reporter wrote an article critical of the ranch and the amount of money spent on each child. In 2006 the ranch spent $2.5 million on 90 children who stayed at ranch, or $28,000 per child. Accusations of accounting irregularities and personal use of the charity's assets were investigated by both the Attorney General of New Mexico, Patricia Madrid, and the New York State Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer. No charges were