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TECO team members raise barns and potential for farm that helps the disabled

With a unique opportunity to help the community, TECO team members in the company’s Emerging Leaders and Manager’s Edge programs built bonds with each other while building – among other things – barns.

TECO team members at Quantum Leap Farm.
TECO team members at Quantum Leap Farm.

The story started about a year ago, when Barbara Leasure, administrator of Training & Development, reached out to Odessa, Fla.-based Quantum Leap Farm to see how TECO could help the farm in its mission to use horses as therapy to treat people with mental and physical disabilities.

The farm, a 10-acre, nonprofit ranch, responded eagerly to the offer with a list of projects it needed to complete – and team members responded enthusiastically in return.

“It was an honor to be able to do meaningful work at Quantum Leap, even though there was driving rain the entire day we were there back in February,” said Fred Schur, west regional sales manager with TECO Partners and a Manager’s Edge graduate. “The group was completely soaked from head to toe, but I never heard a single complaint from my team! We had a great time bonding and building fellowship.”

Schur was one of many who donated their time and energy at the farm. Some, like Ron Petrus, manager of Transmission & Distribution Operations, helped map out the work with the Manager’s Edge and helped Leasure secure the participation of Team Fishel, a contracted company that provided the poles for both barns.

The mission of Quantum Leap Farm is to help people of all ages and abilities grow strong, achieve goals and overcome challenges by engaging them with horses.
The mission of Quantum Leap Farm is to help people of all ages and abilities grow strong, achieve goals and overcome challenges by engaging them with horses.

After months of hard work and with time and materials donated by contractors, Quantum Leap now has more resources than ever to help those whose lives can benefit from horse-assisted therapy. December saw the finishing touches on the work from team members.

In addition to two barns, team members worked on landscaping, adding new plants to the facility and more. Team members even gave up a couple weekends to get the job done. Danny Allen, engineer II with Solid Fuels Delivery Operations at Big Bend Power Station and Russ Human, planning superintendent with Engineering & Project Management, were among those who enlisted the help of contractors on some of the biggest tasks.

And Quantum Leap couldn’t be happier with the results, said Edie Dopking, founder and director of Quantum Leap Farm.

“It’s hard to continue growing and helping people without the kind of help TECO provided,” Dopking said. “All the materials that were donated … it’s not something we could’ve done on our own.”

For Leasure, the work at Quantum Leap Farm was more than just a great example of what team members can achieve in the community.

“When a lot of people come together, great things can happen,” Leasure said. “Look what they’ve done. It’s pretty awesome.”

See the results at Quantum Leap Farm for yourself in this video.

TECO contractors who contributed to Quantum Leap Farm:

Moretrench

ESI Group Inc.

United Rentals

Team Fishel

F&H Contractors

Fieldstone Architecture & Engineering

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