BATESBURG-LEESVILLE, S.C. — Cotton Branch Farm Sanctuary in Leesville has been hit hard post-pandemic. With donations down by 50%, animal feed and medication prices rising, and volunteers lacking, they're struggling right now.
The farm is a sanctuary for farm friends, with pigs, horses and goats living on the property, and they really need help through these hot summer months.
"We have pigs who have come in from kill shelters, we have pigs who were found roaming as strays, you can probably hear some arguing in the background, probably over a napping spot," said Joshua Carpenter, director of operations said.
It's no small task taking care of them, feeding them, cleaning up after them and giving them love.
Carpenter said in the summer, it's even more critical to have helping hands.
"We really depend on our water warriors is what we call them and what happens, as everyone knows, the Columbia heat and if it's 95, our heat index could be 110 to 115, and so the waters get hot very quickly, so we're flipping waters about every two hours," Carpenter said.
Carpenter said they need at least six volunteers a day. Right now they're working with three a week.
Current volunteers tell me they do this because it brings them a unique kind of happiness they can't find in their day job.
"Even volunteers who come to us and have been through trauma and the animals really help them process their grief or their loss or their trauma and so it's mentally fulfilling as well as emotionally fulfilling for the animals, too," Carpenter said.
Cotton Branch Farm is hosting a family fun day in two weeks on June 4, 2022. There will be a food truck, bouncy house and opportunity to see all the farm animals.
For more information on their website click here.