Last Friday, 3/14, SAFE hosted 22 people from Bishop Blanchet High School for their second annual Day of Service. We had around 30% more participants than last year, and a lot of familiar faces returned for round two of facilities projects!
These events are always hard work, but these folks came chomping at the bit and ready to get down to business! We had some ambitious projects for them to work on this year, and once again we were blown away by how much we accomplished.
Our volunteers led the group from Bishop Blanchet in the following tasks:
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Bob helped in setting up the supplies and tools at the various stations the day before, allowing all the groups to hit the ground running on Friday.
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Warren ran the Fence Repair Group — this team worked on repairing (aka replacing) the fence behind the quarantine paddocks so that our newest residents can romp and play. They got the measurements fine-tuned, got all of the new post holes dug, wrapped posts, and got the first one set in concrete. This was the biggest project of the day, and they got done so much more than we’d planned!
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Larry guided the Blackberry Patrol Group — these folks tacked the blackberry menace before things really started to bloom, and completely cleared the area behind the quarantine paddocks and along the entire fence line we share with our neighbors, Little Bit (equating 12 dump loads in our mule, Ruby).
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Ken ran the Gutter Group — we now have fully assembled and installed gutters and downspouts on four of our paddock shelters.
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Monique rocked it out with the Shelter Rehab Team — these ladies were unstoppable! They re-leveled an exposed shelter frame in one of our paddocks, added more tires to the frame for erosion control, and had an absolute blast running the gas-powered plate compactor.
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Cyndi and Anne wrangled horses for the meet & greet with Tiva and Wren at the end of the event.
It’s always a successful work party when we can share our love for our horses, build community, and have fun while working our butts off. We may even see some of the faculty come back for this year’s Friends & Family and Pre-Heart work parties!
