I had never been to the Peace Ranch until this race. I was amazed at the facility and the good works they perform.
The Peace Ranch website says; “100% of the race proceeds will go to serve veterans, at risk youth, children and families in crisis. The race is sanctioned by the Traverse City Track Club. Peace Ranch provides Peer Support and Equine Therapy from qualified professionals for Veterans and their families looking for a solution oriented, hands on approach to dealing with combat trauma, relationships, and re-entry. Veteran’s groups coming Up North for retreat may utilize Peace Ranch’s natural environment, expertise, and experiential equine activities to maximize the benefit of their time away.” A veteran and a user said, “I loved the Peace Ranch Equine Therapy for Veterans. It helped me through the toughest time of my life. They were all so helpful and understanding. I truly thank them for helping me at my lowest point of my life!”
Peace Ranch was founded by Paul and Jackie Kaschel. Peace Ranch is a Professional Equine Assisted Counseling and Education provider. The Kashel’s story began in 1995 when three beautiful little girls joined our family through Child & Family Services of Northwestern Michigan. They had been “rescued” by local authorities from severe neglect and abuse. Though Paul and I were both licensed therapists, none of our training or education prepared us for what we would encounter as a family. Our little girls were broken and deeply wounded in ways that, as the years unfolded, we realized we could never fix. We decided to make a break from suburbia and moved to peaceful Hoosier Valley to develop our family farm. Farm life and hard work drew us all together and helped our struggling children. The daily rhythm of caring for our menagerie of animals seemed to regulate them. There were dogs, cats, chickens, a goat, and horses; but the horses seemed to help them the most, giving the girls a sense of identity, purpose and increasing their self-confidence.
In January 2007, we presented the vision for an Equine Assisted Therapy program and proposed its development to the Paraklesis Inc. Board of Directors. Paraklesis is a Greek word which means “to come alongside.” We founded the 501c3, a Tax Exempt, Christian Organization in 1990 to come alongside people in need of traditional, affordable, Christian counseling services through Forest Lakes Counseling. The proposal was accepted unanimously. We began to liquidate our breeding stock for the development of our “therapeutic herd.” Some came through local rescue organizations, others we purchased at a low price after they suffered some kind of breakdown with failed rehab attempts. The goal was to develop a herd comprised primarily of rehabilitated rescue and throw-away horses. We felt the synergy of using rehabilitated horses and humans in need of rehabilitation would be powerful and effective.
Along the way, many people caught the vision and joined with us to make it happen. As the community grew, so did our vision. The parallel process of rescue, rehabilitation, and restoration for horses and humans touched the hearts of many in ways we could never have predicted. In 2010, we gave our vision a name, Peace Ranch, descriptive of our surroundings, our vision for horses and humans, and our services: Professional Equine Assisted Counseling and Education.
The 5K and 10K race was run along a gorgeous, wooded, hilly, trail. The beauty of the woods was remarkable. Every runner received a tee shirt, a race sticker, a bag of potato chips, fresh biscotti, a souvenir medal and more race snacks. Awards were presented to the top three finishers, male and female, in each race. Sponsors were important to the race. Sponsors were Great Lakes Potato Chips, Kitchen Choreography, Serra Traverse City, Credit Union One, Prout Financial Design and TBA Credit Union.
Let’s meet some of our runners and hopefully along the way we will learn why they are runners and why you might consider joining us at this wonderful event next year. Tim Manzer, 62, of Traverse City, is a minister at New Hope Church. Tim is also a survivor of a head-on motorcycle accident. Tim suffered serious head injuries and only recently fully recovered from debilitating injuries to most of his body. Tim attributes wonderful physical and speech therapy to his recovery. But more important, Tim gives credit to his physical regimen of running and weight training to lead him out of the darkness of physical pain. Tim beat me, again, in today’s race. Tim, you are a celebration of life and faith. Keep on running. Keith Revolt is Tim’s running buddy. Keith exited out of the darkness of prostrate cancer. Keith was diagnosed with cancer two years ago. Keith ran a half marathon three weeks ago and is in total cancer remission.
Louie Rasho, 67, of Rasho Farms, eats healthy and has his own 5K course because Louie is host every winter to The Farmland Runs, put on every year by the Traverse City Track Club. Joe Coleman, 57, of Interlochen, dropped his cholesterol and runs for fitness. Dick Naperalla, 76, of Traverse City, runs a ten minute mile. Dick is trying to drop his time to a 9 minute mile. What is interesting about Dick, is that he suffered a meniscus tear in each knee. Twice his medical professionals advised Dick to get knee replacements. Twice Dick used therapy and exercise to beat the dreaded knee replacement. Today, Dick suffers no pain and runs pain-free. Dick wonders how many of us could have avoided the dreaded knee replacement with the proper therapy. Why? Once your knee is replaced, no more running for you!
David Davis, 41, of Traverse City, runs to support veterans. David is a veteran. Thanks you, David, for your service. He completed four tours of duty, two in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. David works as prosthetics developer for Teter Prosthetics. Fortunately, David has all of his limbs, but many of the men he served with are not so lucky. David says being outside is important, a lesson he is teaching to his four kids who joined him in the race. David ran with children Patrick, age 10, Nathan, age 8, Gretchen, age 6, and Michael, age 4. That is quite the running crew. The family that runs together, enjoys life together. Michaih Foust, 28, of Charlevoix, used to be tired walking across one of his construction projects. So, he started running. Michiah is no longer tired. Scott Storek, 55 of Traverse City, was challenged by his firm, Kitchen Choreography, to start running. Today, nine members of the company joined Scott running this race. We are giving them the team award, if there was one. Karen Nichols, 62, of Traverse City, runs because “running is good for the heart.” Her daughter, Meghan, was a volunteer accompanying the miniature appaloosa, ten year old Annie, as Annie visited with all the runners.
No race could exist without volunteers. Among the volunteers, I met were, the Executive director and founder of Peace Ranch, Jackie Kashel. Jackie seemed to be everywhere helping runners and animals find their way. Jan McCann and Annie Stadel worked on registration, helping me and others to file the necessary forms for the race and handing bib numbers to all participants. Joan Weirich, a Peace Ranch board member, helped wherever she was needed. We appreciated the assistance of Jeff and Terri Mattis. Terri was chair of the race and Jeff was her main assistant. Just kidding. Jeff and I go back a long way.
Jackie Kuschel and Terri Mattis hope you will join them for next year’s event. You will be amazed by the facilities and the good works of Peace Ranch, as was I. If you would like to send a donation, and donations are greatly needed, contact Jackie at Peace Ranch. If you are thinking you would like to begin an exercise program, ask your doctor.
Your author, Mickey Fivenson, age 79, of Traverse City, lost over 100 pounds and has trained over 150,000 miles in 49 years of running. He completed 60 marathons (3:01 PR) and holds a marathon world record with his sons, Zack and Adam. Mickey is the former director of the National Cherry Festival Runs, ranked in the top 25 USA races. Mickey’s doctors credit running toward surviving several strokes. He is an ordained rabbi, an Advanced Scuba Diver and credits his running fitness and his scuba skills with surviving a fall through the ice in over 600’ of water in middle of West Grand Traverse Bay,,,,,, and saving his dog! A U of M graduate, like his kids, (GO BLUE!!), he plays a mean blues harmonica globally and with area bands. His bride of 30 years, Dr. Sally Littleton, is a retired psychotherapist, provides private Reiki lessons and is Reiki instructor at NMC and virtually on the web. If you would like Mickey to cover your race, if you need training tips, email mickey@telecomclassifiedads.com.
Mickey Fivenson: MBA, CEO, Ph,Text 1-231-946-2195
Traverse City Runner 