Delaware County animal rescue damaged by storm leans on community to help rebuild
DELAWARE COUNTY, Pa. (CBS) -- An animal rescue and sanctuary in Delaware County was heavily damaged during Monday night's storms. The National Weather Service said the damage is thanks to straight-line winds.
Now, the community is stepping up in a big way to help the nonprofit.
"It was absolutely horrifying," said Lauren Rosborough, the founder of Happy Heart-Happy Home Farm and Rescue.
Dozens of trees, crumbled barns and broken fences litter the property of Happy Heart, Happy Home Farm and Rescue in Glen Mills. It's a reminder of what mother nature left behind Monday night.
"You couldn't get up the driveway," Rosborough said. "We had horses trapped under trees."
Rosborough said she's still in a bit of shock, but thankful all of her animals – more than 100 horses, cows, donkeys and sheep – were uninjured.
While the sanctuary focuses on rehabilitating older workhorses, it also rehabilitates other animals, including donkeys and sheep.
"When you're in this line of work, you're dealing with emergencies all the time and we focus on large horses. When you're dealing with large horses, your mind is constantly on, okay game plan, so I came home and right off the bat we started making phone calls," Rosborough said.
The sanctuary estimates all of the repairs would take more than $100,000 to fix, so they're weighing other options, including moving the farm completely.
"While yes, we can rebuild, we're also encroaching on September, October in Pennsylvania. Could that all be built by then," Rosborough asked as she considers what would be best for the animals.
Whether on social media or boots on the ground, the sanctuary is leaning on the community for help -- and many have already answered the call as thousands of dollars in donations pour in through Instagram.
"Donations, obviously, make things possible but it's that love that keeps us going," Rosborough added.
That love starts with high school friends, like John Reinersmann. He said he left in the middle of his work day the second he heard of what happened.
"This is Delaware County. Delaware County doesn't have farms. Delaware County doesn't have storms that rip trees out of the ground, but here we are," said Reinersmann, who is helping rebuild
Outside of cleaning up, Reinersmann, Rosborough and an army of volunteers also moved horses, as well as other animals, to the sanctuary's secondary farm.
Now, the general contractor is tasked with building a temporary barn for the few horses, donkeys, sheep and cows that remain.
The sanctuary said they'll be working around the clock until they're back on their feet.
"We are grateful. We're going to come out of this, I know that," Rosborough said.
