SALEM, Ohio — The trucks rolled up quickly after 1 p.m. to Freedom Ranch, a horse steady north of Salem, Ohio.
One pulled a confined trailer loaded filled with bags of dog food, cat food, cat litter and other materials. Another truck had a flatbed trailer packed with square bales of straw and hay. Yet another flatbed trailer held covered pallets of different animal feeds.
In all, 17 lots of feed, hay, straw and materials for animals, animals and animals were provided March 11 to Kaylee Ball and Chase Brown’s farm. The couple had actually taken in horses and dogs left from around East Palestine, following the train derailment and subsequent chemical burn last month.
Their compassion was included as part of a story in the Feb. 9 problem of Farm and Dairy entitled “Community steps in to help farmers near East Palestine train derailment.”
That’s what led Lisa Hilbert and Susie Keller to them. Hilbert, of Indianapolis, had actually been following the East Palestine train derailment story from afar. She was worried for individuals who had animals or animals who have actually been affected by the derailment and by evacuations. Her brother-in-law, Tim McCalla, has family from the East Palestine location.
“I just felt it was very important that people didn’t forget there is another side to the story, not just the human side” she said. Hilbert resides in a residential area of Indianapolis now, however she matured in a village in rural Indiana.
“I would hope somebody would do this for my small town if it happened,” she said.
Hilbert hired her friend Keller to help her gather contributions or find out logistics for the journey. They attempted to go through authorities channels, however faced troubles.
“If I’d gone through a charity, we’d still have been waiting weeks,” Hilbert said.
So they relied on Google and ultimately arrived at the Farm and Dairy story. Ball responded to immediately when the females contacted us to pitch their concept to bring contributions to the location and provided her farm to store whatever while it was dispersed.
For Ball, it was a natural extension of what she’d already been doing. When she saw what was occurring in East Palestine, she wished to help because “if I was in their situation, I would want to know there’s someone out there who could help and would help.”
Hilbert and Keller and their band of volunteer drivers left the Indianapolis location around 7 a.m. March 11 to make the trek throughout Ohio to Ball’s farm in Mahoning County. They hugged Ball firmly after making it to Freedom Ranch in the afternoon.
When the trucks showed up in Salem, a variety of buddies, family and other volunteers sprang into action to get the trucks unloaded. Farmers Equipment contributed a skid loader to help discharge the pallets of materials.
Some of the contributions were gotten for circulation that day. For those who require materials or feed, call or text Ball at 419-571-1764.
(Reporter Rachel Wagoner can be reached at 724-201-1544 or rachel@farmandddairy.com.)
Donated products available
- Square bales of hay
- Square bales of straw
- Lamb feed
- Goat/sheep feed
- Beef livestock feed
- Sweet feed
- Chicken layer pellets
- Oats
- Beet pulp pellets
- Pelletized bed linen
- Various brand names of dry dog food
- Canned cat & dog food
- Dog and cat deals with
- Dog beds
- Dog bones
- Cat litter
- Salt obstructs
- Mineral blocks
- Himalayan salt licks
- Buckets
- Troughs
- Water
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