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W-B Career and Technical Center instructors organize fundraiser for REASON to feed 17 animals.


Every holiday season, the Retired Equine Adoption Society of the Northeast makes a plea for volunteers, donations and other needs for its 17 horses.
This year, Mike Bantell and other instructors at the Wilkes-Barre Career and Technical Center answered.
When Bantell, a special education aide, heard the REASON horse rescue farm at Harveys Lake needed help, he knew he had to do something.
So he and other teachers raised $641 to purchase 215 bales of hay for REASON and owner Lisa Smith.
&ldquo;I was going to make a donation, but then I thought about it for a while,&rdquo; Bantell, of Pittston, said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m an animal lover in general &hellip; so I thought about it around the holidays and took it back to school.&rdquo;
Bantell said he and horticultural instructor Janice Leiby decided to set up a fundraiser between instructors; two weeks later, they had raised $641.
They hay was delivered to REASON last month.
Bantell said he and Leiby worked through the school&rsquo;s Future Farmers of America group, and began the fundraiser by walking around and asking everyone they met and by posting information in the school, complete with horseshoes containing names of people who had donated and pictures of the farm.
&ldquo;When someone would purchase a bale, we put up a horseshoe,&rdquo; Bantell said. &ldquo;Everyone was well aware of the cause.&rdquo;
Smith said it takes just over one bale of hay a day to feed each of her horses, and that she is very grateful for any help.
&ldquo;It means a lot with it being winter. We feed a lot more hay to horses now,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;We have to make sure we have enough to get through the winter.&rdquo;
Hay for a horse is essentially like putting coal in the heater, Smith said. It&rsquo;s what the horse runs on for warmth and energy.
&ldquo;We were thrilled with Mike&rsquo;s donation,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;The economy is bad right now, and that trickles down to us. We understand people don&rsquo;t have the money to support horses, so we were really pleased.&rdquo;
On a personal level, Bantell said in the near future he&rsquo;d like to construct a shed, or something similar, for REASON, so they have somewhere to store their hay. Right now, Smith said, hay is stored on pallets under a tarp.
&ldquo;My two sons are teenagers, and I&rsquo;m planning on getting us involved there,&rdquo; Bantell said. &ldquo;Whether we volunteer or whatever, there&rsquo;s more that&rsquo;s going to become of (the hay donation). It&rsquo;s a very rewarding experience.&rdquo;


Bantell said he and horticultural instructor Janice Leiby decided to set up a fundraiser between instructors; two weeks later, they had raised $641.

Hay Is For Horses, With School’s Help