Letter from Cash’s Crew Rescue

Josh Kesselman donates $30k to Cash’s Crew Rescue

Cash’s Crew Rescue
Donkey & Equine Rescue · Leoma, Tennessee
cashscrewrescue.org | 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization

Dear Josh,

I have been sitting here trying to find the right words, and honestly, I’m not sure they exist. But I have to try.

Thank you. From the very bottom of my heart — thank you.

This $30,000 grant is truly life-changing for our rescue, and I don’t say that lightly. Every single day, Rick and I walk this land, look into the eyes of the horses and donkeys who depend on us, and feel the weight of wanting to do more — faster, better, bigger — for souls who have already waited long enough. Your generosity is making that possible in ways we have only dreamed about.

I want you to know exactly who you are helping.

Our farm is home to some of the most overlooked and underestimated animals you will ever meet. Blind horses who navigate their world with a quiet trust that will bring you to your knees. Rescued donkeys who spent years neglected or unwanted, and who now run through open pasture as they’ve always known what freedom feels like — because here, they finally do. Animals that came to us broken have somehow become the ones doing the healing.

Because of your gift, our blind giants — horses that many people would overlook because of their age or disabilities — will have the opportunity to truly thrive. We will be able to build safe fencing designed specifically for their needs, and larger shelters where they can be protected and comfortable, no matter what Tennessee’s seasons throw at us. We will install solar power so that on our brutal summer days, fans keep our horses and donkeys cool, and on our darkest evenings, our barns are lit, and every animal is safe.

And then there is the thing I am perhaps most excited about — a wheelchair-accessible utility vehicle that will allow individuals with disabilities to travel these pastures and meet these animals up close. Josh, you cannot imagine what it means to watch someone who has never been able to access a place like this suddenly find themselves being beside Oscar, our blind mule, feeling his breath, resting a hand on his neck, and just — exhaling. People come here carrying so much. And something about this place, these horses, these donkeys, this land — it meets them right where they are.

That is what your gift is really funding. Not just fencing and solar panels and a utility vehicle — but the moment a child who has never felt safe around anything feels safe beside a donkey. The veteran who doesn’t have words for what he’s carrying but finds something out here in a pasture that helps anyway. The volunteer who shows up every week because this place gives back as much as she puts in.

You are helping us build something that will serve these animals and people for years — maybe decades — to come.

I would be so honored to welcome you and your entire team to the farm anytime. I mean that sincerely. Photos and videos are lovely, but they simply cannot capture what it feels like to stand here. To watch the donkeys come running at the sound of the feed bucket. To have Oscar find you in the pasture, even though he cannot see you. To feel the particular kind of quiet that settles over people when they realize they are in a place that is genuinely good

There is something here that can only be felt in person. I hope one day you experience it for yourselves.

Until then, please know that your name — and your belief in this mission — will be felt every single morning when we walk out to feed, every afternoon when the horses and donkeys rest in the shade of shelters your gift helped build, and every evening when the barn lights come on, and everyone is safe and loved and exactly where they belong.

With immense and overflowing gratitude,

Sara Weldon
Co-Founder, Cash’s Crew Rescue

Cash’s Crew Rescue · Leoma, Tennessee · cashscrewrescue.org