Klamath Equestrian Center

​Volunteers Lend a Hand

A community rallies to support victims of the Camp fire.

by Maria Meister, owner, Klamath Equestrian Center

So much can happen so quickly …..

2PM Saturday Nov 17 - I received a message from someone that they wanted to donate to help victims the Camp Fire. They asked me if I could take care of the donation for them. It was a sizable donation and I quickly felt the weight of the responsibility. I called the first person I could think of that could help me with this…. Connie Willard of Project Spirit Horse Rescue. I asked Connie Willard if Project Spirit would help to put the money in the hands of those directly effected. Connie, of course, said yes!

We then became keyboard warriors and soon Elysa Greb with Barn Mountain Equine Supply was the first to answer the call, donating 10 bags of cubes.

Terry Haney Wells with Total Equine Services and her husband Clinton quickly jumped in with a unit of hay -- we were on a roll!! Then, Samantha Mitchell talked to Paul Bair, who donated a unit of hay, and we moved to find a second truck and trailer because the first one was filled! April Haynes and Sandra Sims stepped forward with a second truck and trailer and we began to look for hay to load on it. Flowers Farms was willing to discount a unit for the trailer and we THOUGHT we were all set, and then ….

Terry Haney Wells spoke with her neighbor about getting a squeeze to put the hay on our trailer and all sorts of crazy things escalated quickly. Brad Hadwick with Hadwick Trucking donated his truck and time to make the trip, and the Wells stepped up with SEVEN units of hay! Holy Moley!

Individuals started bringing in bags of feed.

Dayna Barbee brought in over a dozen bags

of feed. Deven Mischel Collins and Holly

Frazine Fields brought in several bags more.

Dayna and Deven tossed in some feed buckets

and halters as well.

WOW! Now where to take it all??

The Gridley Fairgrounds seemed to be the best

place to start, and with Klamath feet on the

ground (Vito Romano), we started off early

Monday morning, just 36 hours after this whole

thing started. Vito directed us to our first drop-off

point, and the Southern Oregon Emergency Aid

peeps pointed us to our second target, Jan's

Rails to Trails. Vito, his daughter, Jess, and the

many volunteers helped offload the rest of the

hay and we took a few moments to learn about

Jan's amazing program.

Connie Willard, Les Hathorn and I started home with an empty trailer and a full belly (if you have never tried spinach tamales, you MUST) and a promise to return.

Why am I telling you this story? Because every day I hear people say that they want to do something... they want to help. 

PLEASE do something! Reach out. Ask someone... anyone... if they know what help is needed and where to donate. One tiny ripple (thank you for the term, Linda Bacon) was started by one person making a donation and look what happened.

PS: Also, thank you to Laurie Kayser McNally for taking care of the KEC critters so I could leave at a moments notice.

​

At Klamath Equestrian Center, we are dedicated to providing excellent care to your horse. Offering a full range of services, we customize our boarding packages to fit the need of each individual. Our stalls and paddocks include 12x15 fully enclosed stalls with 15x32 attached paddocks. Turn out, blanketing, stall cleaning, feeding, daily graining and handing for vets or farriers are just some of the services we offer. We are located near town at 779 Miller Island Road in Klamath Falls, approximately 4 miles from Wal-Mart.

KEC is proud to co-sponsor a saddle for

Racin' in the Basin

Winter Saddle Series