Weidner Cares Days, Act 2: After Everyone Went Home: The Lasting Impact of Weidner Cares Days
From the Desk of Ozzie, translated by Anne
After Everyone Went Home
Ozzie here. (The big black Gypsy Vanner with an even bigger personality.)
Today, Art, Heart & Hoofbeats Sanctuary feels a little different. It's quieter. The trucks are gone. The tools have been packed away. My fascinating post-hole digging machine
—and its driver—have disappeared. And Pepper, the baby goat, keeps looking for his new best friends.
For several days, our sanctuary was filled with Weidner Apartment Home Teams. There was laughter everywhere, people working together, conversations across the farm, new friendships being made, and more energy than this big black horse could possibly keep track of. And then everyone went home.
Everywhere we look, there are reminders of what their hands built, repaired, and improved. But strangely, that's not what we miss.
We miss them.
We miss the people. The laughter. The energy. The fun. The way everyone jumped in to help one another. The way people stopped what they were doing to spend a little time with us animals. And we especially miss watching Pepper follow his newly adopted Weidner best friends around as if he had known them forever. We didn't have the heart to tell him it was their last day. Maybe that's because something bigger happened here.
Our sanctuary grew—but so did our hearts.
Weidner came to AHHS to help us accomplish things that would have been incredibly difficult for our small organization to do alone. Not because one person did something enormous, but because so many people brought what they had—their skills, muscles, ideas, tools, laughter, kindness, and willingness to help.
That's how mountains move. Bridges are built. And that's how communities grow.
We are naming our beautiful new lean-to the Weidner Cares Shelter. Animals will find shade and protection beneath it for years to come, and every time we see it, we'll remember the people who built it. But Weidner left behind something even bigger than a shelter.
You created more sanctuary at our sanctuary.
More safety. More accessibility. More possibilities for learning and connection. More places for animals and people to simply be. And you gave us new friends. There's something pretty magical about that.
A group of people can make an enormous difference in the lives of animals and people when they decide to care together. That's what we'll remember about Weidner Cares Days. Not just what was built.
We'll remember how you made this place feel while you were here.
You brought joy into our sanctuary. You became part of our community. So, Weidner friends, please know this: You will be missed. You will be remembered. And you will always have a place in our hearts and at Art, Heart & Hoofbeats Sanctuary.
Pepper will be watching for his friends to come back down the driveway. Cedar will undoubtedly find more things to supervise. And me? I wouldn't mind seeing that post-hole digging machine again. (Actually, you can bring the driver, too.)
With love and tremendous appreciation,
Ozzie 🐴, Cedar & Pepper 🐐🐐 and everyone at AHHS
Yay!