In 1999, Ellie Laks founded The Gentle Barn, a non-profit charitable organization that rescues and rehabilitates abused and neglected farm animals and then gives them a new life purpose as therapy animals. Six acres in Santa Clarita, California is the new and ultimate home for horses, donkeys, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, turkeys, chickens, llamas, dogs, and cats. They believe that everyone deserves a chance at life, regardless if they are blind, crippled, deformed, sick, wounded, or just old. At The Gentle Barn, the animals leave when they are done, not when someone is done with them.
Kids from the inner city and those “at-risk,” kids with special needs both physical and mental, and general school groups come to the farm and interact, play, groom, love animals that are on their own paths recovering from abuse and neglect—and everybody is a winner.
Volunteers work at the Barn grooming and caring for animals, working as go-betweens with kids, and generally doing the tasks that allow this important work to continue. You probably recognize the incredibly life-affirming energy of domestic animals in your life–and if you don’t yet know the nuzzle of a warm muzzle–seek it out. Be a part of healing on so very many levels…
Change by Doing 