The Los Alamos Monitor published a local newspaper for Los Alamos
from Thursday, March 7, 1963 through Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020.
This is a re-creation of one of its articles.
Lemonade Living gets new fence
by Jill McLaughlin
Monday, June 17, 2019 at 9:36 a.m.
Thanks to a local donation, the Los Alamos-based non-profit Lemonade Living program was able to take a major step in building its own farm at the North Mesa Stables last Sunday.
Volunteers for the organization that serves developmentally disabled and special needs children and young adults installed fencing to keep goats inside a pen at the organization’s farm at the stables, according to Melissa Arias, president and founder of Lemonade Living.
“This is our first big step, that’s why it’s so exciting,” Arias said. “This is a major step we’ve been working toward for a really long time. There’s so many people who want to help out and bring things along and I’m really thankful for that.”
With the installation of the fencing, the organization was able to allow someone to being in their goats Thursday. The goats are part of the cooperative and the owner will be teaching the kids about how to care for the animals and how to milk them.
The program is geared toward teaching the children and young adults about how to raise the goats and participate in the Los Alamos County Fair and Rodeo.
Raising goats and making goat products are part of a “Farm to Kitchen” project aimed at providing occupational and vocational training as well as employment opportunities for local young adults with special needs.
Before the new fencing and farm development, the program was using a loaner farm.
Lemonade Living/Courtesy
Local non-profit Lemonade Living was able to take a major step last weekend by building a new fence to keep in goats. The fence will allow the program to grow into its own farm.
The Los Alamos-based program is continuing to grow, Arias said. It is now at a point where they hope to add a fall program to go along with the summer program. They serve Los Alamos children, along with kids from Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Espanola.
“A lot of the kids are young adults,” Arias said.
Lemonade Living is a non-profit life enrichment activities program for young adults with intellectual disabilities.
Opportunities are be offered through arts and music, academic skill development, therapy horse-back riding and social activities throughout the community.
“We are at that point where in order to grow we’ve got to build our volunteer base and do fundraising to get program off the ground,” Arias said.
To learn about how to volunteer or donate to Lemonade Living, visit the website at lemondaeliving.org. The website has a “Get Involved” button at the top, where volunteers can fill out a form to apply, and a “Donate” button, which takes people to the program’s PayPal page.