Maple Park horse sanctuary at risk of losing home without major donations

With their farm on the market and a barn full of animals in their care, leaders of Maple Park animal rescue Casey’s Safe Haven are scrambling to raise funds or be faced with an “unthinkable” decision that could impact people far beyond the stables.

Casey’s Safe Haven board member Michelle Wollter’s daughter Emma Grzesik started volunteering with Casey’s in 2019 when she was 14 years old.

Born with autism and ADHD, Grzesik faced a lot of struggles growing up but found a safe haven at Casey’s, where she worked until her death in a car accident last year. Wollter said because her daughter struggled to make friends and had trouble with bullies, she hated going to school and often would come home crying. During her sophomore year of high school, however, everything changed when she started volunteering at Casey’s.

“It wasn’t until she found Casey’s that she had a place she could call her own. She found her dream job and her life changed,” Wollter said. “They made her feel accepted. I watched her blossom into a young lady. I watched her make friends. ... It meant the world to me that Emma had a place she could be herself.”

Casey’s is the place Wollter feels most connected with her daughter. Wollter said Casey’s Safe Haven saved her daughter’s life and plans to fight with everything she’s got to return the favor.

Maple Park nonprofit Casey’s Safe Haven has been operating in Kane County, caring for abused and neglected animals, since 2012 and has resided at the farm at 8N005 Route 47 since 2019.

In December, Casey’s board members learned the farm they call home was put on the market. Since then, stakeholders have been scrambling to raise funds to make an offer on the property.

Many of the horses and ponies at Casey’s Safe Haven are not for riding. Most come to Casey’s in bad shape, having spent the majority of their lives being mistreated and constrained. Casey’s provides these animals with a second chance and allows them to live out the rest of their lives in a place where they receive the care and attention they need.

The farm provides sanctuary to more than a dozen horses, ponies and a donkey named Petunia.

Casey’s board member Nancy Young said the board was caught off guard when it learned of the property owner’s plans to sell the farm last month and described the task they will face if they lose the farm as “unthinkable.”

Casey’s trainer and barn manager Mitch Bornstein said many Midwest farms have been sold or closed in recent years and Casey’s is about the last of its kind. He said while he would be happy to be out of business if they weren’t needed, during the pandemic the number of mistreated animals skyrocketed while the number of sanctuaries continues to decrease.

Bornstein has been training horses across the country for decades and has a reputation for taking on the toughest and wildest horses. Such was the case with a highly aggressive stallion named Prince and his introduction to Casey’s Safe Haven.

Bornstein was brought to Casey’s in 2014 to work with Prince, who had been kept indoors and isolated as a stud horse by breeders. After the breeder sold Prince to an unsuspecting owner who almost was killed by the horse, Casey’s was the only place that would take him.

Bornstein and Prince’s work together would be one of the greatest success stories in horse training, which Bornstein documented in his book “Last Chance Mustang.” Although Prince never will be tame enough to be adopted, after years of daily training, Prince is in great physical health and trusts Bornstein enough to let him ride him.

“We have to save a place like Casey’s,” Bornstein said. “We cannot shut down because if we shut down I have to euthanize a barn full of animals. I don’t plan on doing that. It’s just not going to happen. ... If we go out of business, what happens to the next Prince?”

Casey’s is known for taking in animals that nobody else will, most of which have been abused, mistreated, traumatized or in some cases deemed too dangerous to adopt.

Bornstein said there is no question that without Casey’s taking them in, most of the animals in their care would have been euthanized or sold to a slaughterhouse.

While many shelters only will take in horses that can be rehabilitated for adoption, most of the animals at Casey’s never will be fit to leave the farm. Bornstein said they give those animals sanctuary designation, meaning they never will be fully rehabilitated, but will be sheltered, cared for and comfortable at Casey’s for the remainder of their lives.

Casey’s shelters several blind horses and ponies, who are acclimated to the space at Casey’s but wouldn’t be able to function in another environment. Their oldest residents are a pair of ponies, Candy and Beau, who are 48 and 46 years old, respectively.

Bornstein said because of the age and severe medical conditions of their animals, moving locations is out of the question. He said if the property is sold and Casey’s is forced out, it would mean a death sentence for almost all of the sanctuary animals in their care, so the sanctuary has no choice but to try to buy the land.

Bornstein said he thinks they will need at least $700,000 to make an offer, but the exact amount and the timeline they have to raise the money are unclear. What is clear is that if Casey’s is forced off the property, most of the animals in their care will be put down.

We cannot shut down, because if we shut down I have to euthanize a barn full of animals. I don’t plan on doing that. It’s just not going to happen.

—  Trainer and barn manager Mitch Bornstein

Bornstein said they simply do not have the funds to have any say in the matter, so at this point, they only can hope for a miracle.

“Realistically we need a very wealthy benefactor,” Bornstein said. “Someone that doesn’t want to see these horses get put down.”

While the mission of Casey’s was to provide abused and neglected animals with a safe and loving home, the horses and ponies are not the only ones who have found refuge in the Maple Park farm.

Wollter said volunteering at Casey’s Safe Haven changed her daughter’s life. She said after the very first shift, Grzesik came home and said she had found her “home away from home.”

Wollter said her daughter always had loved horses, having ridden them for therapy growing up, but immediately found her “heart horse” in Bandit, one of the rescues residing at Casey’s.

Not long after Grzesik started volunteering at the farm, she convinced her mom to start coming as well. They would volunteer together at the farm three or four times a week and Grzesik eventually became part of the staff.

“It was the best two and a half years of my life,” Wollter said.

In April 2024, Grzesik was killed in a tragic car accident on her way to class at the age of 19.

“She was my world, my everything, my best friend. ... After her passing, they were there for me during my time of need and my darkest hour,” Wollter said. “I don’t know if I would have made it without the horses, staff and volunteers at Casey’s.”

Wollter returned to Casey’s within a week of her daughter’s death. She said she felt she had to go back because Bandit needed her and Wollter has found healing in being back at the farm.

“As soon as I walk in the door, I feel peace. I feel Emma. I feel all my cares go away and every ounce of pain, sorrow, sadness or anger go out the door,” Wollter said. “I never knew a horse could do that, but now I know why Emma loved them so much.”

Wollter said when she learned of the nonprofit’s predicament with the land owners, it was like she couldn’t breathe and she was stuck with “overwhelming sadness.”

“I love those animals so much and I just don’t know what to do to help them,” Wollter said. “I can’t imagine them being put down and I’m going to do everything I can to help raise the money to save them. I have to do everything I can because that place is Emma’s legacy.”

Wollter started a GoFundMe page for the rescue, which has raised nearly $4,000 of its $750,000 goal.

“You just knew Casey’s was going to be part of Emma’s life forever,” Wollter said. “I just knew if anything ever happened in her life she had a place to go. It may have been the end of my sweet Emma’s story, but it can’t be the end of Casey’s. It just can’t be.”