Animals provide healing touch: 

Visits to Gress Mountain Ranch Benefit Boys

Through unconditional love and acceptance, animals offer a bridge to healthier human relationships. Several boys from the Kids Peace Orchard Hills Campus in Orefield, PA, discovered this truth while working with the cats, dogs, donkeys, horses, goats, and bunnies at thenearby Gress Mountain Ranch. The kids learned lessons in kindness, patience, respect, trust, responsibility, teamwork, and living in the moment.

Kathryn Gress,a KidsPeace Nurse and Animal therapist, owns the ranch. the boys frequently visit and help groom, feed, water, and exercise the animals; clean the stable; and check for safety hazards around the ranch. Additional lessons about acceptance and communication are also learned through the process, says Gress. They give and receive affection, and they learn the pleasure and satisfaction of helping to care for other living creatures. the animals, in turn, thrive on the extra attention.

By caring for the animals and their home, and by following the example of Kathryn and her husband, Ben, the kids have come to know and appreciate each animal. "We talk about where each animal came from, what their needs are, and what their individual personalities are like," says Kathryn. " When the kids hear these stories, they bond with the animals."

Some of the animals are old and living out their days on the ranch; some are former show animals; and some have been rescued from abusive or neglectful homes; but every one has been selected for its "human" qualities. For example, one day Sundance, a horse with bone disease, didn't want to take his medication. The kids laughed at the horse's objection but could relate to his lack of enthusiasm. Another horse, Corky, is deaf, but the kids love him unconditionally. KidsPeace resident Manny says, "This was my first time working on a ranch and being with animals. I had fun, I learned to do new things I didn't know I could do, and I think I was a big help." Another helper, Justin, says, "I love working with the animals and being able to pet them and look after them. Some of the work on the ranch is hard, but I just do it. 

The healing touch of animals is well-documented by doctors and therapists. Nowhere is it more evident than at the ranch when KidsPeace kids are caring for the animals, enjoying their antics, and bonding with them.

For The Kids, Winter 2002