Bank Threatens To Close Horse Therapy Barn For Kids With Disabilities
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Plainfield non-profit that offers horseback riding to special needs children is in court fighting for its life on Thursday morning.
Ready Set Ride is under a court order to leave its Plainfield home by next Monday. The property valued at around $400,000 is in foreclosure.
Board member, Susan Majchrzak said they have been there paying rent for 15 years. But after their landlord went bankrupt, the property is in foreclosure and they are being ordered to leave on July 17.
Board and staff members have started a Care2 petition to save the property. Ready Set Ride hopes to purchase the property or raise money to move the operation elsewhere.
"After being at our home for 15 years, we never thought it would come to this," Majchrzak said in a statement. "With the overwhelming support of the Care2 petition, we know now that no matter what happens, our home is with our volunteers, riders and friends of the barn, even if it's in a new home."
The non-profit has 14 horses and see about 70 kids a week, who "enjoy freedom from a wheelchair, freedom from a walker, wind blowing through their hair, and riding a horse just like everyone else!" the petition reads. There are also 200 volunteers.
"That's actually part of the reason why this is all so hard. We are a therapeutic program for children with special needs, but our volunteers often come away with more, at times, than our riders. And everyone forms a bond," Majchrzak said.
More than 60,000 have signed a Care2 petition supporting Ready Set Ride and a GoFundMe page has raised about $20,000.
