SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — On-the-Rise isn’t a quiet place. Between goats bleating, chickens clucking and about 20 kids hard at work and play, Debbie McCullough’s small Springfield farm is a busy place.
After a year of silence though, it’s all music to her ears because when the kids get back to work, McCullough does too, teaching the importance of work, responsibility and kindness with the help of a few cuddly coworkers.
On-the-Rise opened in 2002 as a place for young people 10-15 to go. Most of the children have problems with behavior or social skills and many come to McCullough after referrals from area schools or Clark County Juvenile Court.
McCullough and her partner Cathy Tofstad built the program to help the kids build their self-image, try new things and learn the value of care and hard work.
Now after 19 years of operation, they’re seeing some of the kids they helped raise come back with kids of their own. One of them even helps work the farm.
McCullough and Tofstad met while they were working as real estate agents in the area. Both were looking for a way to feel more fulfilled and McCullough suggested a return to her farm girl roots.
“I was not raised with goats but it was an easy, small, kids not getting too hurt project,” she said.
Every year, kids can apply to get matched with a baby goat, born on the farm. They’ll help raise the kid, walking them, socializing them and feeding them all in preparation to show at them county fair through 4H.
Others work with egg-laying chickens, keeping their coop clean and giving them feed and water.
“They don’t need their phones and they can be themselves,” McCullough said.
That’s actually one of McCullough’s most important rules: She wants everyone who comes to the farm to stay in the moment and focused on their environment.
“There’s something about being outdoors,” she said. “It’s just natural.”
Next to the chicken coop is McCullough’s garden, where her kids plant fruits and vegetables to eat at their nightly dinners and sell at their local farmer’s market.
It’s also one of the last places she saw her kids last spring. Up until 2020, On-the-Rise ran almost continuously.
“Then March 11, that was it,” she said.
Tofstad and McCullough prepare meals for their families
Due to the pandemic, McCullough wasn’t able to run the program, but she said she never stopped worrying about the families that participate.
While they couldn’t be together, McCullough said she tried to check in on everyone, at least weekly, usually with a tray of food.
“Baked on Monday, cooked on Tuesday and my partner or my husband and I delivered the food on Wednesday,” she said. “That way I could keep in contact with my families every week because I would call them every week and ask them what their needs were.”
In mid-March, On-the-Rise got the go-ahead to return to business. McCullough said she and Tofstad are working with the Clark County Health Department to keep things as safe as possible.
All of the programming is either outdoors or in the barn, the kids wear masks and their evening meals are served al fresco. McCullough said it was important to her, that On-the-Rise tradition could continue.
“We talk about manners and sharing and nutrition and cooking and it has opened a whole wide variety of things to educate our kids,” she said.
McCullough has all her kids eat at the table, with forks and knives in their hands and napkins folded neatly on their laps. Then they get to eat some of the food, they helped grow themselves and talk with her about their work from the day.
It’s all small things but McCullough said it makes a big difference to kids who might not get that family dinner experience anywhere else.
It’s also a moment for McCullough to get to know the kids. She learns what they like, what they don’t like and what they’d like to gain from their experience at On-the-Rise.
Kids return for family meals at On-the-Rise
“I do love having the kids back on the farm,” she said, as her eyes began to glisten. “This farm doesn’t work without my children.”
The farm still has a ways to go before it’s back to full capacity. For the spring, kids can only come about once a week, and On-The-Rise can’t provide transportation through its usual van.
McCullough hopes by the summer, things will be closer to normal.
