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Thanks for visiting! Please be sure to visit our adoptable horses and other pages (menus are above)CAPITAL FUND RAISER for Barn Expansion, 2004 Creates 3 new infirmary stalls, new medical care area, and hay storage for roughly 400 bales. (click any picture to enlarge)
A 30'x40' storage cover/3-stall area self-assembly pole barn was begun 10/30/04, with the help of an amazing team of volunteers. This will provide covered storage for approximately 400 bales of hay for winter, as well as a 10x30 area that will provide 3 additional stalls for infirmary/specialized horse care. The west 10x30 area, which must be kept open in general to allow tractor and hay access, etc, will also be equipped as a medical care station, for veterinary/farrier/therapist care indoors during inclement weather. In addition, the primary storage area will also be available to be used as classroom and grooming area for the special education program we are involved with through the Champaign County STEP program. November 1, 2004 construction update: The Crosswinds volunteer team this weekend was AMAZING. The Kaluf family drove 3 hours (again!) to come assist, and worked hard from sunrise to sunset both days (special thanks to Karen for all the amazing cooking!); the McMasters helped out both days (special thanks to Candace for running errands when needed!); Leigh Ann and Nathan helped out Saturday (special thanks to Nathan for the tip on cutting steel!); Heather was an exciting new addition to the team -- a new volunteer who heard about us just last week at the Pet Fair, and worked hard all morning Saturday to get us rolling!; Jeremy was a great help all day Sunday; and, as always, Board Member Steve Downey was wonderfully helpful all weekend long. Special thanks to Glynis who made a special trip just to bring us an extra ladder!! We still have an enormous way to go (photo above) -- there is still no roof or west wall -- but without all the fantastic help we had, we could not hope to be even remotely this far....we cannot begin to thank everyone enough. We hope to wrap the construction up, less the 2 sliding doors and stall construction, by the 7th of November, and begin storing hay in the facility as soon as possible. November 8, 2004 construction update: Another amazing weekend for the Crosswinds volunteer team. With Karen and Steve Kaluf, as well as Steve Downey, to help, we were able to roof about 98% of the building. Yet to hang are two 1' wide sections and fourteen 1' tall sections of metal, and then all the trimming. Thank you so much, all 3 of you, for all your hard work! The sliding doors and stall structures will have to wait until we can afford to purchase those materials. This structure will at least allow us to store hay, which has been such a desperate need these past 2 years. January 10, 2005 construction update: The extreme and bizarre Illinois weather this year has forced us to move forward on the interior barn work although the funds still have not been replaced from doing just the basic structure work. In addition to adding the doors, we have now lined the interior of the stall area with 2x4, and run temporary electric fencing as stall front, creating one huge 10x30 stall. This area is being used as emergency infirmary area, primarily to warm and dry horses who are getting chilled in the flooded pasture space. Eventually, when time and funds allow, this area will be 3 "flex stalls" where walls can be placed between them or not as needed to create as many as three 10x10s, or as few as the single 10x30, but with proper stall fronts and doors, mounted, heated water buckets and feed troughs, etc.
Funding the Barn Expansion -- THANK YOU For Your Help! The actual cost of the materials for the building was just over $3200 (without the materials for the sliding doors or the stalls), and this is the amount we initially needed to raise. The building's construction was delayed from April 2004 as we struggled to raise the funds. Unable to wait any longer, the materials were purchased with Winter 2004 Operating Capital and funds loaned by CWER officers, which we desperately needed to replace -- QUICKLY. Every dollar sent made a difference. A HUGE thank you to the Gregory and Jerger families who made HUGE donations toward our paying this project off. THANK YOU!
WE CANNOT EXPRESS OUR THANKS enough for the generosity of Town n Country Electic of Homer, who donated ALL ELECTRICAL ITEMS FOR THIS EXPANSION!! And also the Arcola Lumberyard (217-268-3686) with our Building Project 2003, and now this project as well. They are providing all non-special-order materials at cost, and have donated $100 toward the at-cost expenses. Additionally, UBC Lumber in Tolono sold us a large quantity of miscellaneous wood - much of it usable for this project, and total value of approximately $1000, for $300. Thank you UBC! The remaining materials have had to be special ordered through Menards in Champaign, at full cost, with no efforts made on their part whatsoever to assist us with this $2524 purchase. |
