Spring Break is one week of the year that is treated and celebrated like a holiday by many college students. Often your Facebook feed will be cluttered with beautiful sunsets, pictures you can tell have a story behind them, and lots of sunkissed faces. For my Spring Break this year however, I went to Savannah, Tennessee to volunteer at Horse Creek Wildlife Sanctuary and Animal Refuge. I went in not knowing anyone else going on the trip, being told I would have to give up meat and my cell phone for most of the day for a week, and just look forward to walking dogs. It was so much more than that. I learned a lot about myself, about the girls on the trip, and realized the trip was more than “just walking dogs for a few hours.”
One of the great aspects of Horse Creek, not only is it a safe haven for dogs, it’s also a nonprofit organization, and they see their work as helping the world through animals. The staff there have hearts full of love and commitment for these dogs, and only want what is best for each and every dog that comes through their doors. They take time to get to know each dog’s personality, any specific diet requirements, medication needs, train the dogs to be in the kennel and on a leash, and a weekly check up with the vet. Many of the dogs at Horse Creek had been neglected, abandoned or found in awful conditions. The staff wanted us to really bond with the dogs more during our stay, helping to socialize them so that they would be more comfortable at adoption events and around potential future families. A huge reward for us was getting bring some sweet k9’s home with us for a night in the house! It’s amazing how different a dog can be once you bring it into a home setting where it is getting constant attention and can be comfortable.
(We brought home a dog named Beatrice one night. She is such a sweet and cuddly dog!)
The staff at Horse Creek does an amazing job with the upkeep of the 2,000 acres of land, the two villas that house the dogs and with the work they do with the dogs individually, and I’m so glad I got to be part of a group that was relieving some of the work they have to do. We were out the door each morning by 8:30 am, doing things from cleaning a villa, laying mulch over a large portion of the property and cleaning up fallen tree branches. Our lunch break was a relief for our feet, and by 1:30 pm we were always ready to get back to the main villa and get some dog time! Each afternoon each of us walked 2 or 3 dogs around the trail on the property, and gave many of the dogs some much needed, quality one on one or group play time. The dogs are absolutely the sweetest dogs I have met, and I know it has a lot to do with the fact that they were rescued from shelters, the side of the road, woods and just flat out inadequate care that an animal does not deserve, and brought into an amazing place.
(Collegiette Katie Scibior with Tiffany (left) and I with Vallie (right), on a rainy day walk.)
Now, ASE is all about being sustainable, and part of this trip meant giving up meat for a week. Honestly, giving up meat wasn’t all that hard, although we were spoiled by the Horse Creek staff with some delicious BBQ, Subway cold cuts, and a weenie roast for our final night there (thanks again!). Each night, two of us paired up and made supper that didn’t include meat. It’s actually pretty easy to eat vegetarian, and isn’t hard to get the nutritional value you find in meat in other places. We had stir fry, personal pizzas, burritos, breakfast for dinner, and pasta, all without meat and just as yummy! This alternative trip taught me that though I love eating meat, I can survive without it and there are many benefits from going for the “more green” food optinos. Also, it was great to not be so connected to the outside work through my phone. I was able to really connect with the girls because we weren’t all sucked into social media or seeing what our friends were up to on their own spring breaks. This trip has taught me that life is happening when you look up from your phone, and when you actually put it down you can do so much more.
Every night after we cleaned up the mess we made from supper we sat down as a group for reflection. I looked forward to reflection every night because Jordan and SK made the activities enjoyable, while teaching us something about ourselves, about service, about each other, and about trying to be more sustainable and understanding humans. Our reflection time was always a safe place to share our thoughts, but I felt like the entire trip was a safe place. Every morning that I had to get out of bed when the sun was just coming up, and I’m not a morning person at all, I was actually happy and looked forward to being able to give some assistance to an organization that provides so much care and love for the animals it houses. I looked forward to the work we had at hand, I knew it would go by quickly because I was working with such a dedicated, caring, and outright hilarious group of girls.
(Our very first day on the site, I met Solomon!)
The hardest part of the trip was knowing that sadly, some dogs won’t get to be adopted, but it’s good to know that Horse Creek is a NO KILL sanctuary, and that no matter what, an animal will be cared for until it’s time for them to pass. It was also hard for me personally, to leave behind the two dogs I felt that I had bonded with the most, Solomon and Vallie. I think about them and the other dogs every day, and hope that they are going to find their forever homes. I also am glad that Horse Creek has such strict requirements for their animals to be adopted into a home. I see too often dogs being adopted and kept outside, even in bad weather, go without the proper food and water they need, have their medical needs neglected by their owners, and adopted by college students that simply do not have the time to care for an animal fulltime. Having a pet is a huge commitment that needs to be carefully considered before going through the process of adopting a one! Horse Creek has the best interest of the animals that take refuge there in mind, and always see through that the dogs that get adopted have a happy and comfortable life.
I will forever be grateful for my junior year spring break to have been spent in Savannah, Tennessee at a nonprofit organization that does something so close to my heart … providing care and refuge for animals in need, finding homes for those animals, and showing them love every day. Thank you to ASE. Thank you to the Horse Creek staff and animals. Thank you to my group and leaders. If this is what “giving your spring break up to do service” is about… I’d do it over and over again.
(The Horse Creek Group after a day of laying down mulch. Collegiettes (bottom row) Carley Eutsler, Paige Anderson, Katie Scibior, Leader SK Parker , (middle row) Natalie Bouchard, Alicia Hewitt, (top row) myself, and Leader Jordan Hines.)
For more information about Horse Creek, visit their website and click here to learn more about ASE trips!