I am so excited to introduce to you our very first intern, Kaley Hilliker! We are so excited to have her on board with us this summer! This summer is going to be filled with new adventure, learning new skills, and furthering the training of our rescue horses. Help me welcome the fabulous Kaley! I’m going to let her take over, and share with you about what brings her here.

Hi, as you read before my name is Kaley! I am very excited to be interning here this summer. I am excited to grow in my knowledge of horses and a rescue, but also to further my growth in the Lord.

A little background story about how I heard about Just Another Chance Ranch is kind of a neat story. I starting taking are of my neighbors horses while they were traveling and that lead to her and I riding together. I was a little bit struggling with what the Lord was calling me to do with my life and we would talk about that on our rides. I said for years that I wanted to be a Game Warden. After the wonderful year of 2020 it changed things for me. Certain things were set in place that I wasn’t willing to look past. I had mentioned that a dream of mine was to work with kids in building confidence and leadership, especially children with special needs and teach them how to do things outdoors. Outdoor skills like building a fire, fishing, building a tent and working with animals are all things I find meaningful and I enjoy teaching. Being outdoors and riding horses has helped me a lot in life with my own personal struggles.

One day I went on a trail ride and my neighbor, was telling me about how she to wants to start a rescue ministry, and that I should look into working on one. She told me about one of her favorite rescues, Crystal Peaks so I applied! They contacted me and wanting to further interview me and were very serious about wanting me to work with them. I ended up turning this place down because I felt like the Lord did not want me there. I had a check in my spirit. I was a little discourage, but I knew it was right.

Crystal Peaks has helped many other non-profits get started, and they are listed as “Similar Ministries” They sent their Similar Ministries the names of the interns, like myself, who decided not to intern with Crystal Peaks. I started getting a bunch of calls and emails from rescues across the US who were interested in having me work with them. I turned them all down; none of them felt right.

A couple months go bye, I’m sitting in my breakroom at work and I get this phone call… the number is from Walla Walla. I thought, “That’s weird. It’s probably a scammer”, so I didn’t answer. Well, they left a voicemail; it was Just Another Chance Ranch. At first, I did not know who that was. The funny thing is Stacy Just was actually my second grade teacher at Eagle View Christian School! I’m not gonna lie my little second grader self still wants to call her Mrs. Just, it’s a little weird saying Stacy!

Stacy and her family also went to church with my family for years when I was very little. On top of that I used to have a little miniature horse and Stacy came out a couple times to give me lessons with him. She ended up moving to Walla Walla, to start Just Another Chance Ranch, when I was still very young. She suggested to my mom having a friend of hers help me with lesson. Well her friend happens to be the very same neighbor who encouraged me to get into this kind of ministry! What a small world! So, not only did I already know Stacy, but my family and my neighbor did as well! We both knew this had to be a God thing! I’m excited to see what God has in store this summer.

Drop me a line and let me know what you dream of doing someday!