After sustaining extensive damage from the tornado in May, the People and Animal Learning Services organization is starting to rebuild.
Located on the west side of town, PALS provides equine-assisted learning (EAL) programs and adaptive riding lessons for children, adults and veterans. It lost most of its buildings, including a 30,000-square-foot indoor arena, to the tornado. There were no human or horse injuries.
Executive Director Christine Herring said she was able to start services again in a smaller capacity one month after the tornado. PALS has offered some of its services in the outdoor arena and repurposed a small storage barn as an indoor facility. The rebuilding includes an outdoor learning pavilion and a new barn facility with quarantine space for horses. It will upgrade the sensory trail and include new features in the bigger indoor arena, including classroom space and counseling rooms.
“We will have more space in the arena dedicated to our EAL programming and our adaptive riding,” she said. “We will be able to have both going on at the same time, so essentially doubling the amount of clients that we can serve.”
It will cost about $1.5 million to rebuild the 30,000 square-foot indoor arena alone, Herring said. Insurance will cover about $1.25 million, and the rest will come from donations.
Construction started about a month ago. The first phase includes building the shell of the building, the stalls, the arena and framing of the classroom and counseling spaces. Phase two involves finishing the different rooms. After experiencing construction delays early on, everything is expected to be completed by next June.
Herring said during construction, she’s working on adding new classes and partnerships. She hopes that activities can go back to normal as soon as possible.
“Our community depends on us,” she said. “That human horse connection changes lives, and that's what we're doing here. It's more than a pony ride. It's bringing people and horses together. The horses really help people to achieve those goals.”
