SALISBURY — The Salisbury Visiting Nurse Association welcomed the largest class of scholarship recipients to its headquarters July 22, awarding 19 local students $10,000 each through its Educational Enrichment Program Scholarship.
“We’re very proud of all of you,” said SVNA board member Susan Knight as she welcomed students and their families for a reception and check presentation. “We think you are all amazing young people.”
The scholarship first began in 2023 after the merger between Salisbury Family Services and SVNA. The board said the applicant pool has increased from around three during its first year to 21 applicants in 2026.
The celebration marked the fourth and largest year of the initiative, with nearly $200,000 donated to area-students for the 2026-27 academic year. The scholarship is open to students from the Region One area pursuing degrees in healthcare-related fields ranging from nursing to neuroscience.
Recipients receive $10,000 annually, provided they maintain a 3.0 grade point average and submit proof of their academic performance. Funded through SVNA’s robust endowment, the scholarship allows the organization to reinvest in healthcare by supporting future healthcare professionals
Board members delight in hearing directly from the students who will benefit from $10,000 scholarships to study healthcare during a July 22 reception. Aly Morrissey
The application process includes an in-depth essay describing each applicant’s career goals, personal experiences, and reasons for pursuing a healthcare profession.
“It’s helped a lot with my first-year tuition, and I’m very grateful,” said Madeline Mechare, a 2026-27 recipient. “I’m thinking of becoming a traveling nurse. I find it really exciting.” Mechare said she plans to major in nursing and will begin her freshman year at Eastern Connecticut State University this fall.
Gabriela Titone, who is entering her sophomore year at Marymount University studying psychology, said the scholarship is helping her prepare for a long educational journey.
“I’d like to be a therapist, so I also want to go to graduate school,” Titone said.“It’s nice to be able to have a scholarship that helps me for my undergraduate, because I have a lot of school ahead of me.”
For many students, the scholarship is what allows them to attend the schools of their choice.
Finn Cousins, who is entering his junior year at Fordham University studying psychology, said the financial support allowed him to transfer from the University of Connecticut after realizing it was not the right fit.
Cousins hopes to earn a doctorate in sports psychology and eventually work with a professional sports team. “Thanks to this community and their support, I’ve been able to transfer somewhere I really love, and I just feel like I’m in love with school again,” Cousins said.
His mother, Sara Cousins, said the scholarship made the transition possible.
“The scholarship gave him the financial freedom to transfer to a school where he’s much happier,” she said. “He feels like he’s more on track to do the kinds of things he wants to do.”
Many students said the awards enhance their college experiences.
“The scholarship is making it possible for me to live on campus this year,” said nursing student Kara Franks, who is entering her junior year at Western Connecticut State University. “If not for this scholarship, I would have to commute to school, so this is helping me focus on my studies.”
The award is aimed to invest in healthcare workers of the future, and board members hope some recipients will eventually be interested in returning to the Northwest Corner after graduating to fulfill the need for healthcare workers in the community.
“Hopefully some of you will come back and work in this area,” Knight said. “That would be wonderful.”
Deanna Hearn opened Lucky Orphans in 2003.
Growing up in the Bronx, Hearn was captivated whenever she saw horses. Her grandfather, a Korean War veteran, had cared for military horses during the war. After returning home, he struggled with addiction, and the invisible wounds of military service. Through every difficult chapter of his life, however, one thing consistently brought him peace.
“Horses bring peace,” he told his granddaughter.
When Hearn was 11, after years apart, Hearn and her grandfather began spending weekends riding together. Less than a year later, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Before he died, he asked family members to help buy Hearn’s first horse — a stubborn paint horse that bit, kicked and frequently threw her off. She wanted to sell him. Her father refused.
“Every life has value,” he told her.
Looking back, Hearn says that lesson became the foundation of everything she would later build.
What began as a boarding stable in 2003 took a different direction after the Dutchess County SPCA asked Hearn to care for horses seized in cruelty cases. She soon realized that although Dutchess County had one of New York’s largest horse populations, there was no dedicated nonprofit equipped to care for neglected and abused horses. Lucky Orphans officially became a nonprofit in 2008.
Some of the more than 40 horses at Lucky OrphansProvided
Today, Hearn is quick to point out that Lucky Orphans is not simply a rescue.
“We’re a sanctuary,” she said.
Many of the more than 40 horses living there arrive with broken bones, chronic illnesses, heart conditions, missing eyes or other injuries that make them unsuitable for riding or adoption. Rather than rehabilitating and rehoming them, Lucky Orphans makes a lifetime commitment to every horse.
In 2013, Hearn became certified in equine-assisted psychotherapy, combining her lifelong relationship with horses and the lessons she learned from her grandfather to create programs for veterans, trauma survivors, children and families facing emotional challenges. The transformations she witnesses continue to surprise her. She recalls one woman who arrived convinced she would not fit in with a group of strangers. During the session, a horse quietly chose to follow her without a rope or commands. For the first time in years, the woman said she felt truly seen.
Another memory has stayed with Hearn ever since. A teenager in a juvenile probation program, wearing an ankle monitor and struggling with anger, entered a round pen with a horse. As his frustration grew, the horse moved farther away. When he finally calmed himself, the horse walked directly toward him and rested its head against his chest.
“I told him, ‘If you can control your energy, you can control the world around you,’” Hearn said.
Stories like these sustain her through the difficult realities of running a nonprofit. Operating the sanctuary costs roughly $52,000 each month, and Hearn lives on the property, where the work never truly ends. Veterinary bills, staffing, fundraising and the daily care of dozens of horses are constant concerns. Then someone returns years later and tells her that the horses changed their child’s life.
“That’s why I keep going,” she said.
Looking ahead, Hearn hopes more people discover what makes Lucky Orphans unique. The organization is expanding its community programming with educational visits, yoga sessions, horse encounters, volunteer opportunities and family events designed to reconnect people with horses and with one another.
Her vision is simple: to create a place where people slow down, reconnect and remember something modern life often makes us forget. If horses could speak, Hearn believes they would offer just one piece of advice.
“They’d tell us to slow down,” she said.
After spending an afternoon at Lucky Orphans, it’s hard to disagree.
For more information or to plan a visit, go to luckyorphans.org
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