December 30, 2007
By Holly Zachariah
hzachariah@dispatch.com
Columbus Dispatch
CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio – The highschool kids drove in posts to cordon off a secure pasture for the horses.
Then they moved on to the wooden fence at the back of the Pickaway County farm used by the Ohio Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. There, they pulled rotted boards and hammered in new ones so the 31 goats wouldn’t escape anymore.
Never mind the metal gates they repaired, the 17 rabbits they fed, the 500 bales of hay they delivered or the video they shot to submit the farm as a candidate for the television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
The work that 60 Delaware Area Career Center students and their teachers did in a bitterly cold wind earlier this month was just the latest act of kindness to overwhelm Teresa Landon, the society’s director.
In the fall, Landon appealed to other animal-rescue groups after a deal with a local farmer went sour and the society found itself without enough hay to feed its menagerie for even a week, let alone through the winter (Sept. 29, Metro & State).
Generous Dispatch readers sent $18,000 to the society after that, enough for Landon to buy some hay – which was at a premium in the midst of a shortage – and pay two veterinary bills.
The story also inspired the students and teachers at the career center. They cleaned and repaired the farm as a community-service project.
Initially, senior Zack Hood helped round up hay only because his favorite teacher asked him. Then, he delivered the first 80 bales and was troubled by what he saw.
“I got down here and saw what she does by taking in all these animals and I realized she needed so much help,” he said. “I made it a mission to get into it and do whatever I could.”
