Service Project: Serenity Spring Sanctuary

Newest miniature pony, rescued from an abusive owner. 

He's afraid of anyone that enters his cage.

It took me about two hours to get to Serenity Springs Sanctuary. I drove from my house in Denton to Forestburg, Texas, where I spent thirty more minutes on a three mile stretch of Merrit Road, unable to get a cell signal to contact anyone. Along the side of the road, I was approached by a couple of locals, who when asked said they had no idea of a sanctuary nearby. I finally found it on my fifth pass, the gate and sign covered in rust, hidden by plants.

I came into this project only knowing that this was a small animal reserve. For my readings I was going to analyze firsthand the dualisms of how people treat animals, particularly using the readings of Plumbwood and Francion, and also anthropocentrism discussed by Callicott. Kowking little of what I was going to encounter for this project, I wanted to keep a broad range of topics I could analyze.

The sanctuary is run primarily Terry Degaw. She takes care of all the feeding, cleaning, and finances of the entire facility. She does this by working online every night doing freelance writing, writing about things she has no particular interest in. She said that she regrets not being allowed into college in the 50s because of being a woman. She relies heavily on the work of volunteers and the irregular donations she receives. Unfortunately, she says that not many people have a passion for pigs and never receives large, regular donations from companies. [It’s here where I hate being a student, paying his own rent.]

180 degree view from the middle of the area. Full Image Here.

I first received a tour from Terry. On her 25 acres, the sanctuary houses around 150 animals at any given time. Most of the animals were pigs, but also included were horses, donkeys, chickens, as well as cats and a few dogs. She showed me two blind horses she had rescued. One was used as a breeding mare, and when she got an eye infection, her eyes were allowed to basically rot out, because she didn’t need her eyes to make horses. It was here that Terry mentioned how people don’t care about animals for their lives, only for the profit they can make. Throughout the day Terry would continue to mention the dualisms people use to justify their ownership as well as the cruelty and neglect they force on their “property.”

While there I racked the feeding pathway, mowed a section of the entrance pathway, and helped construct part of a fence for group of new pigs that were being brought to the sanctuary in a few weeks. Unfortunately I had to leave to go to my job that afternoon, but I wanted to stay there all day. I only got to interact with a few of the animals, and some of the rescue stories are real tearjerkers. I plan on going back this summer and getting to interact with the animals more.

Serious business cutting fence ties.

During this trip however, what surprised me most was how much I learned that Terry has sacrificed to help these creatures. It’s obvious that Terry is a highly intelligent woman, but through her life has faced hardship and injustice. As a woman she was treated unfairly, and because of that decision has taken up the needs of others and helps them no matter what the cost. Her life has been directly effected by the dualisms set up by the society she lives in. Her funding is impacted that people don't care about pigs as much as other animals, because dogs and cats are more human-like and lovable. She struggles to make ends meet, but food is always bought, and the vet is always brought in. She says that they are her responsibility, and no animal deserves to die.

While I was there, she was trying to figure out her new iPhone, a gift gotten for and paid for by one of her regular volunteers. She had to try for awhile, but eventually showed me a picture of a horned toad she saw laying eggs on her property the previous week, the first she had seen in 20 year. She mentioned how they used to be everywhere, but that the pollution cause by the nearby oil well and natural gas farms literally next door had driven them off. She mentioned that the same had been for the fireflies. She posted this on her facebook wall:

"Nostalgia reigns. I saw a fire fly last night. It's been years. Where there is one there should be more. Remember them flickering in the dark by the thousands..eliminated by humans and their pesticides. I tried following it to look for more and forgot to step over the terrace wall. Yikes...I was alright and laid there still watching until it disappeared into the woods. The good ole days"

Web Links

http://www.facebook.com/serenityspringssanctuary

http://www.serenityspringssanctuary.org/

Angel Food

Growing up in a military lifestyle I have always seen many different walks of lives, from the fortunate to the less unfortunate. When I was younger each year my parents and I would donate the clothes I haven’t wore over a year to either shelters or Goodwill organizations. I was so eager to drive back, I think when I was twelve, I decided to go to the local shelter in my community and meet a girl that was around my same age and take her shopping for Christmas and not to receive anything from my parents, because all I wanted was to give back. This was the most touching thing I thought I have done to give back to my community until a couple of weeks ago. So this week I had the opportunity to volunteer with my friend Ashley at the Irving Cares Center. On the way there I thought that it wasn’t going to be much, possibly just like you see in the media with people handing out meals at Churches. However, I was wrong! The mindset that I had engraved in my mind was completely based on the media which was a little disappointing after I volunteer. We actually had got to prepare the food. We made spaghetti, with garlic bread, and had fruit for dessert. After that gave out the food, we got to sit down and talk with the people. There was on lady named Teresa that had twin girls. Their names were Bethany and Brittany. The little girls were so adorable, but the cleared their plates so fast they were asking for more. It seemed to me as if they didn’t eat that day or didn’t eat big meals too often. So I went to go get the girls a second plate and right once I gave them their plates their mother just started crying. I had asked her what was wrong with her, she replied that “She was so blessed that her girls were able to eat today.” I looked at her and smiled. She started to tell Ashley and me, the reason why they were there in the first place. She said that her husband had heart problems and they were in so much debt because of it. After the recession was put into play her job had to take away some of their health benefits, then let her go. This put them in major debt. She said that nine months later he passed away and that they are still in debt and that she is barely getting welfare checks to take of her and her two girls. Her husband was just a construction worker working under the table which affected them tremendously after her husband got sick. After listening to Teresa’s story working for just a couple of hours embedded in my mind that I am blessed to live the lifestyle I live and have all the luxuries that I have. After reading Bruni, he says “With a job like this one the learning curve is endless, and it takes you in directions you never expected to go.” This had me thinking that once I graduate I would want to give back in such a way that I did that day. According to Spoiled: Organic and Local Is So 2008, Roberts says, “We can't wait for the perfect solution to emerge; we need to start transforming the food system today”. This experience touched my heart in such as way that I want continuing to help contribute to breaking this cycle of people who are uncaring and show more support to others in need with shelter and food.
As I was saying my goodbyes to everyone that was helping out at the Irving Cares Center, I took back so many things from it all. The main thing of it was that I gained helping a person or a family can honestly go a long way. Another thing I got from it was, not everyone has the same story and everyone comes from different walks of lives just as how I grew up. This experience was the best feeling I had from volunteering in a long time. I couldn’t believe that doing so little could go such a long way, and be a blessing in return.

seeds of hope

Green, the color once thought of health, substance, and abundance. Now a days this isn’t so, trees plants, and whole ecosystems are being destroyed at an alarming rate. To combat this, spread education, and help a better the planet, Earth day was created. Earth Day is usually celebrated at the end of April, which tends to be the being of spring; the nature blooming and spreading love and colors. The University of North Texas has steadily been on the right path to having a greener campus, they celebrate earth week with various actives, to promote a better way of life. On April 29 2011 the university gave the office of suitability the permission to table for Arbor Day. We passed out Red Bud trees for a few hours, giving expiations on how to care for them. Red Buds are native to Texas, so they will be able to flourish in this climate, we passed out about 350 trees, so that’s 350 ways to better the environment. Later that night we watched a documentary called “Taking Root” which was mainly about deforestation in Kenya. So in Kenya deforestation was happening on a mass sale, to increased the government and other industrial company’s profit with cash crops. Basically farmers gave up their native sustaining crops to harvest damaging cash crops, such as coffee and tea. These large cash crop farms are openly support by the government, which is governed by men of high ranking and power. The master narrative is officials say this is progress, to helping Kenya to compete a global market. “The hierarchy of meat protein reinforces a hierarchy of race, class, and sex.”(Adams) Men in Kenya, like in every other society are expected to be the provider, hunters of the family. While it is the responsibility of women to gather and make food for the family, but what can one do if there isn’t any food? Trees are cut down on a mass scale, to make room from the crops, and with cash crops the soil cant handle the amount of production that is need to make a good profit. So as a result the land is destroyed, barian to anything that tries to grow there. The system has a hierarchy system, with men at the dominant and control; while women are suppose to be submissive. Radically excluded, women have know say to nature- but are seen as the more nature or nursing gender (Peterson) Andorcentrism, male-centered mind set, as described by Pulmwood, is how this society works, men in control and thinking of everything and one else as the other. “ Way of looking at the world characterize of the dominant, white, male Eurocentric ruling class, a way of dividing up the world that puts an omnipotent subject at the centered and constructs marginal Others as sets of negative qualities. (Nancy Hartsock, Pulmwood 44) Having this dualism create a distinct difference between thee two genders, these only creates oppression for women. Wangari Maathai the leader of the Green Belt Movement, which was began to empower women to make a change for themselves and not keep a disenchanted state of mind. She had women of devastated areas that were destroyed regions plant trees. This small grass root idea slowly turned into political group to overturn patriarchy and elitism within the government. When high officials were question about how they felt about Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt organization, the thing they most often commented about was her gender. They stated she wasn’t being a good woman because she questioned me, but what she really was questioning the status quo, thusly becoming a deviant radical of the state. “Dualism can also be seen as an alienated from of differentiation, in which power construes and constructs difference in terms of an inferior and alien realm” (Plumwood 42) The Green Belt movement never used violence to get there voices heared. Using Intelligence, tenacity hard work and dedication, they were able to frighten the government. The Green Belt organized a hunger strike/ protest was to try to convince the government to free impressed rebels. As a result the army was sent in, attacked the women and other by standards, all of which were men using force to make the women summit. “The hunter loves not nature but how he feels in it as he stacks his pray”. (Collard pg. 4) Never the less The Green Belt as still able overcomes all obstacles to revolution the entire country. Wangari Maathai went on to be come the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize. 40 million trees later the forest of Kenya wasn’t the only thing that flourished, but also a nation. Refusing to be claim what others think, will only hold one back. “Identify is expressed most strongly in dominate conception of reason, and gives rise to a dualised structure of otherness an negation.” Plumwood pg 42)

Its for the Animals..

I have always been a person who cared deeply for animals. Growing up I always had pets whom I cared more about than my toys; I was happy when they were and I felt their pain when they were hurt or sick.  However, until this class I only said I cared. I would donate money to the World Wildlife Fund or Defenders of Wildlife and then go about my carnivorous ways. I would drive by a pasture full of cows and say how cute they were and then eat a steak for dinner. After reading “Brave New Farm” realizing that 

“cattle may be dehorned and branded, and males are castrated, all without anesthesia” (Mason, 162) 

I found it very difficult to go home and eat that steak. Then the next day we read Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”, showing the reader a slaughterhouse for pigs and pointing out that 

“some were white pigs, some were black; some were brown, some were spotted; some were old, some were young; some long and lean, some were monstrous.” (Sinclair, 29) 

That day I decided I had cared too much for these creatures to let them die for me. I suddenly felt the way Mary Spears does in “Eyes of the Dead” when she says 

“there were tears in my eyes, I couldn’t understand, how could people be so heartless? How many have to die, for other people’s pleasure?” (Spears, 81)

            As a full time student with a full time job an hour away, I had a difficult time finding a volunteer opportunity. I wanted to do something with animals but all of the shelters require a volunteer orientation.

            I had been planning a trip to New York at the end of April, to visit one of my best friends who happens to be a vegan and very involved in the community. I found out that I would be in NYC the same weekend of the Third Annual Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. This year there was a bake sale at MooShoes (vegan shoe store) and all of the proceeds went to “for the Animals Sanctuary” in New Jersey.  “for the Animals Sanctuary” is a non profit organization that rescues animals from the “food-farming trade”, that Mason and Sinclair write of, and provide them with a safe, loving home to live out the rest of their lives. As someone who loves to bake, we decided this was perfect so I signed up to bake Vegan, Gluten-Free Brownies and volunteer at the actual sale.  

            The day of the Bake Sale I learned about this organization that I had never heard of until a week before when I signed up as a volunteer. “for the Animals Sanctuary” is located in Blairstown, New Jersey and provides a home not only to rescued livestock but domestic animals as well. They promote a vegan lifestyle to benefit “themselves, and the animals and the earth.”

            I took many things out of participating in this event. The first thing I gained is a deeper knowledge of the abuse animals experience in a factory farm, and knowing that there is someone out there who will take care of them if they can be rescued. The second, more superficial thing I learned, is that not all vegan organizations are psychotic and scream “meat is murder” which was a surprise. I am so glad to have had the opportunity to learn about volunteer, and raise money for this wonderful organization.