Neither Kat Howkins, owner of Sweet Olive Farm Animal Rescue, nor Grace Foland, an 11th-grader at Oglethorpe County High School, grew up around farm animals.
Now, they are testaments to Sweet Olive Farm’s mission of creating a nurturing and healing space for both animals and humans.
Howkins is specifically spreading this message to children through Farm Camp 2025.
Foland began volunteering at Sweet Olive Farm, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that serves as a sanctuary for a wide variety of animals in Winterville, last April to meet the volunteering requirement for The National Honor Society.
Once she realized how “friendly” and “well-socialized” the animals were, along with meeting Howkins, she continued to volunteer every weekend.
“I enjoyed it so much, I just kept going, because the whole thing is just great,” Foland said. “And Kat is a really awesome person to be around. It’s a great community to spend the weekends with.”
Howkins approached Foland with the opportunity to serve as a camp counselor for Farm Camp 2024. Foland only agreed to a weeklong trial because she said she was nervous about “being the odd one out,” given many of the counselors knew one another.
“This was my first-ever experience with a summer camp,” Foland said. “I was kind of worried that was gonna happen, but they were all so welcoming after the first day.”
Howkins said incorporating younger generations is the “future of animal rescue and the future of a more compassionate society.”
The camp activities include farm chores, like feeding and watering the animals, singing, crafting, writing and, most important, interacting with the animals and nature.
“(Summer camp) really goes hand-in-hand with our mission, which is not only to help animals that are elderly, injured, unwanted, homeless and just need a safe place to land, but the other part of our mission is to create community,” Howkins said. “When the kids come, we really like working with younger kids to make them part of our community, as well.”
Seeing young campers use their new knowledge about animals and farm life is “really rewarding” for Howkins. Foland said last year, the campers caring for a lamb at Sweet Olive Farm not only taught them how to take care of a baby animal but also the importance of compassion.
“It has a real big impact on how you treat all of nature and all people and everything living and breathing,” Foland said.
Through Sweet Olive Farm, Howkins said many young participants and campers, including Foland, have grown through volunteerism and interacting with the animals.
“I’m a very reserved person, and there were a lot of times where (Kat) pushed me out of my comfort zone, and just over time, (I’ve) gotten better at talking to people and communicating,” Foland said.
The kids’ day camp starts at $425 per week per participant, or $300 for counselors in training, which includes a shirt, bracelet and lunch. The overnight camp starts at $2,000 per week per participant, which includes a shirt, bracelet, three meals a day and a field trip to Watson Mill.
Sign-ups are open until all slots are filled and all funds go to support Sweet Olive Farm’s mission and operations.
“The uniqueness of what we do, and the fact that we have different animals each year we come in and we can interact with each year,” Foland said. “You do know that you're going to be up for something fun and you know that you're gonna have a new surprise each day.”