Maple Park horse sanctuary at risk of losing home without major donations
With their farm on the market and a barn full of animals in their care, leaders of Maple Park animal rescue Casey’s Safe Haven are scrambling to raise funds or be faced with an “unthinkable” decision.
The nonprofit has been operating in Kane County since 2012, caring for abused and neglected animals that have been living at the farm at 8N005 Route 47 since 2019.
In December, Casey’s board members learned the farm was put on the market. Since then, supporters have been scrambling to raise funds to make an offer on the property.
Casey’s is known for taking in animals that nobody else will, most of which have been abused, mistreated, traumatized or in some cases deemed too dangerous to adopt. The farm provides sanctuary to more than a dozen horses, ponies and a donkey named Petunia. Many of the horses and ponies there are not for riding.
Casey’s board member Nancy Young said the board was caught off guard last month when it learned the farm’s owner’s planned to sell.
Board member Michelle Wollter’s daughter Emma Grzesik started volunteering with Casey’s in 2019 at age 14.
Born with autism and ADHD, Grzesik faced struggles growing up but found a safe haven at Casey’s, where she worked until her death in a car crash in April last year.
Wollter said because her daughter struggled to make friends and had trouble with bullies, she hated going to school. During her sophomore year of high school, however, everything changed when she started volunteering at Casey’s.
“She found her dream job and her life changed,” Wollter said. “They made her feel accepted. I watched her blossom into a young lady. I watched her make friends. … It meant the world to me that Emma had a place she could be herself.”
Casey’s is where Wollter feels most connected with her daughter, and why she plans to fight to keep it going.
Trainer and barn manager Mitch Bornstein said many Midwest farms have been sold or closed in recent years and Casey’s is about the last of its kind. The number of mistreated animals skyrocketed during the pandemic while the number of sanctuaries continues to decrease, he added.
Bornstein, who has a reputation for taking on the toughest and wildest horses, was brought on in 2014 to work with an aggressive stallion named Prince, who had been kept isolated as a stud horse by breeders.
Bornstein documented his work with Prince in his book, “Last Chance Mustang.” Though not tame enough to be adopted, Prince is in great physical health after years of daily training, Bornstein said.
“We have to save a place like Casey’s,” Bornstein said. “We cannot shut down because if we shut down I have to euthanize a barn full of animals. I don’t plan on doing that.”
Casey’s shelters several blind horses and ponies that are acclimated to the space but wouldn’t be able to function in another environment. The farm’s oldest residents are a pair of ponies, Candy and Beau, who are 48 and 46 years old, respectively.
Bornstein estimates they will need at least $700,000 to make an offer on the farm.
“Realistically we need a very wealthy benefactor,” Bornstein said. “Someone that doesn’t want to see these horses get put down.”
Wollter started a GoFundMe page for the rescue, which has raised about $7,700 of its $750,000 goal.