Animal Therapy: Why We Do What We Do
A movement of hope, healing, and human connection.
When the world fell silent in 2020, our work began in a new realm of rescue.
As doors to assisted living homes, senior care centers, and hospice facilities slammed shut, an entire generation of elders were suddenly cut off from everything that gave them life – their families, their routines, their warm hugs, their familiar hands. Loneliness settled over Cherokee County like a storm cloud, and our Founder felt it break her heart wide open.
On the very day the world shut down, she walked into the barn and made a promise: If the world couldn’t go to them, we would.
So she grabbed a few leashes, a couple of harnesses, and began training pigs, goats, and bunnies to safely bring joy to the people who needed it most. The first visit changed everything. Life reappeared in the eyes of residents who hadn’t hugged a loved one in weeks. They held a piglet or stroked a soft bunny, and you could feel something sacred move through their little world – hope returning, healing beginning, hearts softening & JOY.
In those moments, two hearts healed at once:
1. the human who needed connection, and
2. the animal who had come from cruelty and found new purpose.
What began as an emergency outreach quietly grew into one of the most powerful healing programs in our county and has lifted the loneliest hearts in the biggest ways.
And thus began The Birth of our next mooovement connecting special needs individuals with our rescued residents: Super Hero Animal Therapy
As the world reopened and human touch slowly returned, HAAS launched what would become a deeply impactful community mooovement – Super Hero Animal Therapy, a program intentionally designed to connect our rescued animals with individuals of all abilities.
And what we witnessed defies simple explanation.
- A nonverbal adult man whispered his first word to Millie, a rescue chicken.
- Memory care patients lit up with recognition they hadn’t accessed in months.
- A young girl with severe cerebral palsy – her muscles tight, her body contorted – relaxed and unfolded as a small bunny named Fuey was placed on her heart. Her body softened, her breathing steadied, and for the first time, her muscles completely relaxed & she fed our bulls … with her feet.
- Seniors who had forgotten their own names somehow remembered the name of Frank the Tank, our herd King goat who visited them every week.
- Hospice patients held a gentle animal in their final days and left this world feeling love, warmth, and dignity.
These moments aren’t coincidence. They are miracles born from connection.
Science hasn’t yet fully mapped the neural magic that happens when a rescued animal meets a healing human – but we see it every day. The voiceless speak. The rigid soften. The fearful trust. Something ancient and holy awakens.
This is why we do what we do.
Powered by Volunteers. Fueled by Compassion. Sustained by Community.
HAAS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit powered entirely by volunteers — no paid staff, no corporate backing, no guaranteed funding. Every therapy visit takes nearly 40 hours of preparation, training, and animal care. Every mile driven, every animal rehabilitated, every hand we hold — all of it is done because compassion called us to act.
And the impact?
Nearly 10,000 lives touched in Cherokee County alone.
Thousands of our precious elderly, memory care patients, special-needs individuals, hospice patients, and struggling youth whose lives were made brighter, softer, and more hopeful because a rescued animal walked into the room.
Why We Pay It Forward
Every animal that arrives at HAAS is given a second chance – time to decompress, a customized rehabilitation plan, and all the love they never had. And when they are ready, they join us in paying forward the very thing that saved them – hope, healing, and unconditional love.
Our rescued animals don’t just survive. They become healers, teachers, and companions. They change lives – including their own.
And that is why HAAS exists:
To rescue animals.
To rescue humans.
To bring joy wherever joy is needed.
To Go Do Good — every chance we get.