Sweet Community, Sweet Olive
When traveling out to Winterville off Parkview Road, Sweet Olive Farm, a non-profit animal rescue, may not seem like much. Volunteers feed everything from goats, cows and alpacas, to pigeons,guinea fowl and an emu with buckets of grain and donated produce.
But what you may not see at first is the sense of community Sweet Olive has inspired in its people since 2010.
Kat Howkins, the farm owner, says that the origin of Sweet Olive was not planned. It started when animal control asked if she would take a pig when she was getting a ticket for having too many rescue dogs.
“I was rescuing dogs in Atlanta, and I got a ticket for having too many dogs. So when they came to give me a kennel license, so I could have 10 dogs, the lady said, ‘Do you want a pot bellied pig? That’ll really make your neighbors mad.’ I had just rented this farmhouse to bring my dogs to. So all of a sudden I had one pot bellied pig named Mr. Thelma and then I was on speed dial for every farm animal that animal control or animal rescue had. So I didn’t really choose that, it chose me,” Howkins said.
Sweet Olive Farm opened June 15, 2010 and has been a home to over 100 animals, whether old or young, sick or healthy. The Farm applied as a nonprofit in 2013, because they realized that they had become a legitimaterescue, not just rescuing animals every now and then.
“Our mission is to provide a forever home to farm and exotic animals that are homeless, elderly, injured and need a safe place to land. And our mission is also to build a community of like minded people, especially young people, to allow them a safe place to be able to be themselves,” Howkins said.
Crystal Mosko, farm volunteer, agrees that the farm has helped build community.
“I have definitely made friendships that I would not have otherwise. Some lasting friendships that I know I can call if I’m something and just the overall satisfaction of making a difference,” Mosko said.
Howkins says that all of the responsibilities she has running a rescue have helped provide her with purpose in more ways than one.
“I’d think that having a purpose in life is important.Running an animal rescue farm,being responsible for these animals, managing volunteers and getting to know people has given me a great purpose in my life.So I think that has enriched my life and made it better,” Howkins said.
Cedar Shoals freshman Thaddeus Scott, a Sweet Olive volunteer, similarly says that volunteering at Sweet Olive has helped him feel like his life has more purpose.
“Volunteering has helped me feel like I’m making a difference. Helping benefit other people and animals makes me feel better about what I’m doing with my life,” Scott said.
Some of the difficulties of volunteering can vary from physical difficulties to mental and emotional difficulties.
“Physically there is a lot of hard manual labor, carrying feed bags, hay bales, etc. Emotionally if we have to put an animal down or if one is elderly and struggling and we have to make that decision,” Mosko said.
