A tractor trailer hauling more than 12 tons of horse feed, hay and dog food left Greenville on Thursday to aid animals in Ocala, Fla.
Kevin Lee of Barnhill’s Dairy Hunting Preserve & Horse Trails organized the donation with the help of his family, employees and other local businesses.
“Somebody nominated me to see if I could get a tractor trailer loaded that we could send down there and I succeeded,” Lee said.
The challenge was issued by Mona VanNortwick, who has worked for Lee for about a year.
“I felt the need to do something for animals,” VanNortwick said. “People get help but animals sometimes are forgotten.
“My thought was everybody’s little bit could make a big bit,” she said.
This is especially true for larger animals such as horses and livestock. Lots of people are willing to shelter an abandoned dog or cat after a hurricane or flood but few have the resources to house and feed large animals, she said.
VanNortwick also was motivated by her experiences in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd and its subsequent flooding forced local horse owners and livestock producers to abandon the animals.
VanNortwick worked with emergency rescue services during Floyd.
Dozens of horses were trapped in floodwaters, she said. Some eventually had to be rescued by helicopter. Some had to be euthanized because they contracted deadly infections after being forced to stand for days in polluted water.
After the rescue, many owners found themselves unable to house the rescued animals because space at local stables quickly filled.
“We had a line of horse trailers that came from Raleigh west,” VanNortwick said. “It took six hours for them to figure out how to get here.” VanNortwick said she never forgot their help.
Ocala, located about 75 miles west of Daytona Beach, was selected as the delivery site because it’s the self-proclaimed “horse capital of the world” thanks to its long-time connection to horse racing. Lee had a cousin who connected him to a Marion County., Fla., county commissioner who worked with a local veterinarian to find a location to accept and store the donations.
“(Ocala) was a nice, central location where people can pick up the supplies,” VanNortwick said.
Along with the horse feed and dog food, Lee, who’s operated Barnhill’s Dairy for four years, added bales of hay, horse tack and buckets to the donation.
Pam Hardee with Hardee’s Feed Barn in Grimesland, Little Fork Ranch 4-H Club of Craven County and Coker Feed Mill also donated a ton of feed. Harold Mills Construction donated a half-ton of horse feed, Lee said.
The remaining donations came from individuals who donated cash to purchase a 50-pound bag of feed. On a maintenance diet, a 50-pound bag can feed a horse for one week, VanNortwick said.
The biggest challenge was finding a tractor trailer and a driver, Lee said. In stepped Kevin Hines, a driver with Metallix, a recycler of precious metals.
Hines also works with Lee and the men are longtime friends. When he saw Lee struggling to find a vehicle he decided to volunteer his services and asked his boss if the company would donate a truck.
Operations manager John Burke contacted Metallix’s owner, Erick Leiner, who lives in Florida. He immediately said yes.
“We are very proud to help our own,” Burke said.
“I’m just like Kevin,” Hines said. “I’m an animal lover and I use to have horses. They need food like everyone else.”
Contact Ginger Livingston at glivingston@reflector.com or 252-329-9570. Follow her on Twitter @GingerLGDR.
