Barnyard Team raises $12,000 and counting for Hospice

By ROB PAUL

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

With the Bethell Hike for Hospice going virtual for the second straight year, Susan Graham saw it as an opportunity to bring some cheer to the community.

She put her Barnyard Team from Riverdale Farm together—led by Heidi the miniature donkey and supported by Thomas the Nubian goat, Emma and Krissy the Haflinger horses, and Muppet the Plymouth Rock Hen.

Although the animals stole the show when the team walked twice a day around Caledon during the week of May 2, Graham was joined by plenty of members of the community.

Throughout the week, various residents lent a helping hand as handlers and riders, and even more stopped for pictures and to donate.

Overall, the team went on 12 walks and Graham says they collected around $800 in curbside donations—nearing $100 per day—to put towards their fundraising. The original fundraising goal was $1,000, but before their first official walk, they had already raised over $5,000.

By the time the week of walking was wrapping up, the Barnyard Team had raised over $10,000 and currently the fundraising total sits at over $12,200 (to donate visit bhf.akaraisin.com/ui/hikebh2021/team/337964). 

A photo Graham took of a resident wearing a Bethell Hospice shirt walking alongside one of the animals really stood out to her and summed up the week of walking with the Barnyard Team and Caledon residents.

“It speaks volumes to the mystery of ‘community', that given half a chance—as was demonstrated this week between human and horse—that complete strangers, nervous of each other a week ago can today walk confidently, relaxed and strong in the pure expression of the words written on the backside of the Bethell Hospice t-shirt (compassion, love, empathy, respect, comfort, serenity, peace),” said Graham.

People from all over the community would get excited when the Barnyard Team walked by, and children loved helping out while seeing the animals.

“One little guy dug into his pocket, and he had some loose coins and he donated about 91 cents to our fundraiser,” she said. “The kids loved it.”

Seeing the residents bond with her animals and get more comfortable as the week went on was a huge plus.

“The animals were all so great,” she said. “All the animals and people matured over the week and their confidence level grew. We had kids at the end of the walk who hadn't been willing to get up on the horse end up sitting on the horse. There were lots of positives like that, where kids would see that they could do something more than they thought they could.”

Given the circumstances of the last year with COVID, Graham was glad she could bring a little bit of cheer to Caledon all while doing it for a good cause.

“It definitely brightened people up,” she said. “I was posting every day on Facebook and the comments coming back just appreciating the smiles that were generated from seeing the animals out. I think we're all having a little bit of withdrawal from not having the routine of walking twice a day and getting out there. It was all so great.”

The Weeden family ended up getting involved with the Barnyard Team because of a personal connection with hospice, but it led to so much more.

“I joined the Barnyard Team with my daughter Lucille, she's nine,” said Cynthia Weeden. “She really wanted to get into the barn and see the animals, but she also wanted to help fundraise for hospice. She lost a great uncle that she had visited in hospice and so she has a real-world idea of what happens in hospices and was very sensitive to that.”

Helping out with the Barnyard Team was the perfect experience for Lucille to get up close with animals all while helping out a good cause and Cynthia couldn't believe just how impactful the experience was on everybody who saw them walking. 

“She was able to go out and help train some of the animals and my husband and I went out to help train the donkey, Heidi, our team leader,” she said. “We were fortunate to walk in four of the walks and it was really neat to meet people in the community that I had never met before, especially in COVID times. It was a very welcoming group, and it was wonderful to see the support improve as the week went on as the village started to notice what was happening. Even painters who were painting somebody's house came out and donated.”

With COVID leading to most interactions being made in a virtual realm, Weeden found it was refreshing to be able to make some personal connections again during the hikes while following health and safety guidelines. 

“It was really nice to do, for me as an extreme extrovert, to have meaningful conversations that lasted more than a couple minutes in a grocery store,” she said. “To walk with a stranger for an hour and talk about who they are, why they were involved and wanted to show support, and what's going on in their lives and how they're surviving COVID, it really meant a lot to me. While we were able to give back to the community—Lucille raised $875, and I was super proud of her, but it also became healing for me in a different way.”

The fundraiser was the reason behind all this, but beyond helping Bethell Hospice, Weeden and her daughter were happy to have a moment of escape from the pandemic for a few days as they enjoyed their time with the Barnyard Team.

“It was so nice to hang out with all the animals,” she said. “I really like Heidi; I need to go walk her again! My daughter's an only child and with kids being at home and us being very rural, she's had nobody to play with. For her to see other children, it brightened her up.”

The Virtual Hike for Bethell Hospice began May 2 but runs until May 31 and anybody who would like to register can do so at foundation.bethellhospice.org/virtual-hike-for-bethell-hospice.