Last year, Margaret Rich paid for the school buses herself. Not because she had to — because she refused to let the funding gap become the reason these kids didn't come. This year, the buses rolled back through the gates of Green Acres Interactive Therapy Ranch, and Margaret was there to meet them, same as before. Same dusty boots. Same open gates. Same unshakeable belief that every child in this community deserves a morning like this one.
The funding question isn't solved yet. But for Margaret, that's not a reason to wait — it's a reason to invite the community in.
If you've followed Margaret's story, you already know she's not someone who talks about what she's going to do — she simply does it. For her, the question was never if these kids should experience the ranch. It was only ever when.
That first visit proved something she already knew: that for many of these children, a morning at Green Acres could do what no classroom lesson could replicate. The animals don't care about diagnoses or lesson plans. They simply show up, present and unhurried — and something in that exchange reaches kids in ways that are impossible to manufacture.
This year, it happened again. Students from local elementary schools made their way through the rustic welcome arch for a morning of education, therapy, and unfiltered joy. A little girl leaned in close to meet a miniature donkey face-to-face. A boy stretched out his hand toward a horse — curious and calm. A child who might otherwise never set foot on a ranch, meeting an animal that meets them right back.
[Insert Margaret quote here]
What Margaret has built is more than a therapeutic program. It's a community anchor — and a signal that Temecula believes in a child's whole education, that learning happens beyond four walls. For these families, a day like this is validation. It's access. It's someone saying: your child belongs here too.
She's building one field trip at a time — and she needs Temecula behind her. To donate, sponsor, or volunteer, visit gaitprogram.org.
A child who might otherwise never set foot on a ranch, meeting an animal that meets them right back.