New Freedom Farm is a place for veterans and first responders, but while it was closed, some found themselves longing for it to reopen.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Dick Winand, an 87-year-old Army veteran who fought in the Korean War, but what he liked to talk about most was his love for horses.
“I guess you might say I’m a horse person, I had my own horses when I was young, and I just like horses, I love horses,” Winand said.
Throughout the week you may catch Dick heading to the library, but what you might not know is that he stops by the farm to watch the horses.
While we talked, I could see he was overwhelmed with emotion speaking about the animals.
“I think that’s why I stopped and looked at the horses because I wanted to try and ride one last time,” he said.
Dick is battling cancer, and his son tells me he only has a little over a year to live, so New Freedom Farm, which is known for giving veterans and first responders a therapeutic space isn’t just peaceful for the horses but also for him.
“I’m dying of bone cancer so I want to get as much in as I can while I’m still here and able to and I think it was one of my goals to see if I could still ride,” he said.
While the farm was temporarily closed he would still go watch the horses, but this time he would watch them through the fence.
″Because I don’t have a lot of time left, so I think that was my idea looking at the horses,” he said.
In and out of the hospital, Dick said there was one thing he would not miss — the grand re-opening of New Freedom Farm, so not long after he got out of the hospital he made his way there.
“Because I made a commitment, that I’d be here, and I try to live up to my word,” he said.