Local nonprofit Karen’s Equine Intervention is facing some uphill battles and needs support from the community to save its farm, located in Royal Ascot Estates.
Founder and Director Nora Janssen recently underwent abdominal surgery. She is now on the mend, but the problems facing the farm where she runs a refuge for animals, including 28-year-old horse Flicka and miniature horses Mali and Macaroon, continue to mount. Currently, Janssen is battling foreclosure proceedings on the property.
In 2011, Janssen launched Karen’s Equine Intervention to honor her late daughter, Karen. Janssen wanted to provide a place where people could mend, especially if they are suffering from depression, grief, trauma or anxiety. She and her late husband devoted the farm to the memory of their daughter, who died after complications from a car accident.
The farm has become a place to heal, and Janssen is hoping she can continue her mission of providing the community with these important services.
“It really goes back a long time now that we have been fighting the Broward Credit Union, trying to stop them from foreclosing on a $100,000 equity loan we took out years ago to build the barn,” Janssen explained. “In 2012, my husband became ill. Because I was distraught already from losing my daughter, I did not understand the terms of the loan.”
Janssen’s husband later died from kidney complications. She has been trying to save the farm and work out the details with the bank ever since. In 2016, foreclosure proceeding began. Without any positive outlooks, Janssen is hoping people from the community can intervene and help her raise the $250,000 that is now required to save the farm.
Karen’s Equine Intervention is a local nonprofit organization that relies on volunteers, sponsors, grants and donations to provide services at very low costs or free to the members of the community based on need, not on the ability to pay.
A GoFundMe page called “Save Karen’s Barnyard” has been set up to help raise the necessary money. Visit www.gofundme.com/save-karen039s-barnyard to support the local nonprofit.
To learn more about Karen’s Equine Intervention, visit www.facebook.com/KarensEquineIntervention.
