Close to 75 volunteers came out to help Horse Feathers get some big projects done and prepare for the winter.
Volunteers cleaned up the barn, painted and repaired fences, built shelters for the horses, moved existing shelters, ran a water line from the back of barn to the front, poured a concrete pad for the hot water tank to sit on in the barn, groomed horses and more.
Come for one hour, one day or all three days, it all helps! We get lots of much-needed work done and it's always more fun with more people.
The days started with breakfast for volunteers and the horses, followed by several good hours of work. A hearty lunch gave everyone a chance to recharge and chat before getting back to work for the afternoon.
One highlight of this fall's work days was a class of students from the University of Central Oklahoma who planned two shelters for the horses, raised funds and did the physical labor. The class, Information Systems and Operations Management 4333 – Project Management, class delves into estimating and managing the costs and time of a small project, the roles of a project team, manager and staff, as well as other project management concepts.
The professor, Geoff Willis, explains how the project came about:
"I decided to let the students choose whether they wanted to have a traditional experience with the text and several small group projects or a semi-traditional with the text and an entire class project. The only provisos were that the class project had to be: a) service to a charitable organization, and b) a project of sufficient magnitude under our control that we could plan for a few weeks and execute in a weekend. The class voted overwhelmingly for the latter, our service learning office suggested Horse Feathers as a possibility, Cheri defined the specific deliverables she needed and otherwise let us do all the project planning and execution. It truly was exactly what I was looking for to give the students some practical project management experience."
We want to thank EVERYONE who came to help. The response was overwhelming and inspiring.
Please feel free to email us with any comments or questions.