from CFS. He started working at Chenoa Manor when he was in seventh grade. “It’s a fun environment,” says Rice, who hopes to become a vet. “I like to learn new things about animals. I learn a new thing every time I come here.” This summer CBS Evening News ran a segment featuring Teti’s work at Chenoa Manor and Rice’s transformative role there. The boys feed the animals, haul food, clean out pastures and stalls and give vaccinations. They work eight hours a day in any kind of weather. Their only break is for lunch. Teti has no rules at the sanctuary, other than be respectful and “don’t eat the animals,” he jokes. He likes to keep the groups he works with small, to get to work with them one on one and get to know them well. Teti knows each boy by name, as well as his background and his thoughts for the future.
Joshua Rice graduated from the Church Farm School. His role at Chenoa Manor was part of a CBS Evening News feature story that aired in August on Teti’s work to help youth, as well as, animals.
ducks, are in poor condition when they arrive. The ducks were being raised for foie gras and were being force-fed, so they had to learn how to eat. “It’s hard to teach them to do that, so we put them in with other fowl to let them learn,” says Teti, a vegan. He knows each animal by their name and their background. He greets them with a loving, friendly smile and a gentle hand. Bette, the pig, wanders around the farm accompanying Teti on his chores. Bette’s not big enough to live with the large pigs and so, “she acts as the official porcine dignitary of Chenoa Manor,” Teti says. The personalities of the animals Teti takes in are much like those of the boys who come to volunteer. “They’re very reserved, shy, not always willing to trust right away; their experiences have been nothing but poor with people,” Teti says. “As they relate to the boys over time, the animals become so outgoing, social and friendly.” Teti’s partnership with the School at Church Farm began about the time he opened Chenoa Manor. A fellow Ursinus alum, Heather Leach 1995 was working at CFS before she joined the Peace Corps. Leach helped Teti with his first fund-raiser and brought the school’s guidance counselor, Lisa Ochwat, who is also the community service coordinator. When Leach left the school, Ochwat wanted to continue the relationship with Chenoa Manor. “Rob has done a fantastic job at helping the boys develop leadership skills,” says Ochwat. “They’re connecting with the animals, and therefore are better with people.” Students at CFS are required to do five hours of community service a year, Ochwalt says, so one trip to the sanctuary fulfills that requirement. But some of the students love it so much, they go back week after week after week. Josh Rice, 18, graduated in May PAGE 22 URSINUS MAGAZINE
Ursinus alumna, Gail Gawlowski 1996, helped create a competition for the boys modeled after the television show Top Chef, which she produces. Top Shepherd had the boys competing on the knowledge of life at Chenoa Manor. Gawlowski was one of Teti’s special guests during the competition. Tracey Bregman of the soap opera The Young and the Restless, is also a Chenoa Manor board member.
States, whose headquarters is outside Washington, D.C. Sanctuaries such as Chenoa Manor provide a home for animals that are often abused or injured. “They give people a chance to meet farm animals and help them realize they’re not just meat producing machines,” Shapiro says. “They’re individuals with personality, they have likes and dislikes, and they’re very capable of feeling pain and suffering.” At these sanctuaries, the animals are “treated with compassion and respect instead of violence and domination,” says Shapiro. At Chenoa Manor, Teti works tirelessly to improve the lives of animals and of the youth who help care for them.
Erika Compton Butler graduated from Ursinus in 1994 with a degree in economics and business administration. She has been working for The Aegis, a community newspaper in Harford County, Md., for more than 15 years, most recently as the news editor. She and her husband, Chris, and their son, Henry, live in Harford County.
Ursinus graduate John Dunchick 1995 is also a board member. It takes about $80,000 a year to run Chenoa Manor, and Teti funds about 75 percent of that by working full-time as a vet. Ideally, however, he’d like it to be self-sustaining. He’s now raising money to restore the bank barn (built into a bank) on the property. Built in 1813, it is structurally sound except for one corner. Teti wants to preserve it not only for Chenoa Manor but for its historical value. “It’s a massive barn and few like it can be found anymore,” he says. The barn needs a new roof, as well as floors, walls and windows. The total restoration project is estimated at $200,000. Teti has big plans for the barn once it’s restored. The first floor will be additional animal stalls and more quarantine areas. He needs more stalls for the pigs. On the second floor he wants to create an art gallery, where the kids who work at the farm can hang their work or paint murals on the walls. “I’ve always been a huge supporter of the arts in general,” says Teti, whose parents had a farm in Italy. “This allows the boys to see the animals as more than a pig sitting in mud,” he said. “[In their work] they bring out such detail you know they are really observing the animal.” They have raised $140,000 for the barn restoration. The Philadelphia Inquirer published a story on Chenoa Manor in November 2009. Sanctuaries like Chenoa are not common in the United States. According to the www.farmanimalshelters.org, there are about 27 farm animal sanctuaries in the country. Teti’s farm was not listed on the site. The vast majority of sanctuaries are for wildlife or dogs or cats, says Paul Shapiro, senior director of the factory farming campaign for the Humane Society of the United FALL 2010 PAGE 23