VILLAGE OF BALDWINSVILLE – After a tough winter, Sandra Seabrook is looking forward to Purpose Farm getting back to its mission.
The farm, which was founded in 2009 and opened to its mission in 2012, mentors at-risk youth by pairing them with some of the many rescue animals on the property.
If it’s anything, Purpose Farm is a calling for Seabrook. In 2008, she went on a mission trip and visited a number of orphanages. When she also saw a horse farm, it sparked an idea for the mother of four that she could purchase a farm and build a space where at-risk children could come, be mentored and learn responsibility in a safe location.
They were living in East Syracuse and had no experience with animals, but the Seabrooks took the leap and sold their home, their camp and all their furniture and purchased the farm in Baldwinsville. Seabrook was herself an at-risk child, and having found success and family, she wanted to make a difference in the lives of other kids in need.
The first child to come to the farm was a young boy who was living at Elmcrest Children’s Center. His work on the farm made a difference.
“He loved it so much … even in winter,” Seabrook said. “He used to beg to stay here.”
The second child to come was a 6-year-old girl who had suffered from traumatic abuse. Seabrook still keeps in contact with the girl, who recently graduated from high school.
For several years, the farm was very successfully fulfilling its mission. The menagerie of rescued animals had grown and although funding was always a challenge, Purpose Farm offered programs like Goat Yoga and other events that would help with the costs. Several area agencies were working with the farm, and between referrals from agencies and word of mouth, many children were coming and being supported and mentored in the pastoral riverside environment.
That all changed in February 2021, when a fire broke out in the farm’s barn, killing 20 animals and destroying both the barn and about $5,000 of hay.
Video footage showed that a hawk had gotten into the barn to prey on the smaller birds, and a peacock named Pete had tried to stave off the attack by chasing the hawk out. Tragically, the hawk knocked the lamp off as he flew away, which started the fire.
Pete and his fellow birds along with a couple of pigs and most of Purpose Farm’s goats were killed in the fire. Farm favorite Chris P. Bacon, a pig, suffered third-degree burns on the left side of his body. He was sent to the Cornell University Hospital for Animals to undergo surgery but passed away a few days later.
Many of the larger animals including horses, alpacas, donkeys and the farm’s camel were outside during the blaze and unharmed, and the dogs, three pigs and many smaller exotic animals were safe inside the Seabrook home. But still, the loss of the animals and the barn were a devastating blow.
The 125 x 120-foot barn had featured a riding arena, kitchen, half a basketball court where goat yoga was held and stalls for the animals, but according to Seabrook, the insurance company had written it up as a vacant pole barn and refused to pay the full value of the claim.
“We still have not fully recovered,” Seabrook said. “It’s just made it that much harder.
Fundraisers have helped, and construction has begun on a much smaller barn, but funding ran out before it was finished so Purpose Farm can’t complete the work until another funding stream is realized.
With no barn on the property, much of the work to run the farm and care for the animals is done entirely outdoors, which makes getting volunteers to help out a real challenge. Seabrook has a perpetual call out for volunteers – but that plea comes with a message: farm work can be challenging and requires commitment. It’s not for the faint of heart.
She does have a handful of regular volunteers who come to the farm to feed and care for the animals and manage some of the other labor that is required to keep the farm operating, but since the fire, there are no more group tours or goat yoga sessions which introduced potential volunteers to the farm and its mission.
Seabrook herself cares for the 20 or so animals that live within the home, and said it takes three to four hours each morning and again each evening to do all the cleaning and feeding required for the indoor animals. The few volunteers she has largely take care of the animals that live outdoors.
“They all love coming here, those that are committed to coming here,” she said.
Since the fire, Purpose Farm is no longer able to bring in new rescue animals, although Seabrook has made exceptions for a pair of rabbits that were set free on the north side of Syracuse and a goat that had been abandoned in the woods. The calls keep coming, but with funding and volunteers in short supply, she needs to hold the line. She’s committed to caring for the many animals that are already there “for the rest of their lives,” she said.
With the youngest of her four children now having started her own life in California, Seabrook will do all the mentoring of children herself when that program begins again in July. Seabrook said she is looking forward to having four sessions with children each week from July through November. Each session is about an hour and a half, and the children are taught to support the farm by feeding and cleaning up after the animals, taking on responsibility and handling tasks with a purpose.
Life on the farm is different and more difficult than it was before the fire, but Seabrook is determined to keep Purpose Farm’s mission alive.
“I get up and I just keep going every day,” she said. “God called us to do this.”
Editor’s note: To learn more about Purpose Farm, volunteer opportunities, or to donate, visit purposefarm.org.
