The Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity gathered Saturday at the Gallastar Equine Center in Afton, Va. for their fall pledge project.
Gallastar is a facility that helps children and young adults cope with behavioral and emotional difficulties through interaction with horses and with one another.
The group of more than 100 volunteers spent the day constructing a space for overnight patient visits, painting the perimeter fences, digging a drainage ditch, landscaping and completing other projects.
The group's work prepared the center for the upcoming winter months, said Laura Tortorelli, fourth-year College student and APO Pledgemaster.
"I was really impressed with the pledges," she said. "They put together a really good project. They chose the site based on need and they met those needs."
APO pledges, who organized the event, raised money for the project through doughnut sales and an a cappella benefit concert.
Brothers, pledges and alumni of Alpha Phi Omega fraternity participated in the event, APO President Jessica Van Denend said.
"The semester pledge project is a really important project for our group," Van Denend said. "It brings together the fraternity and focuses all our attention on service."
Gallastar President Lorelei Pulliam said she is grateful for APO's work, since her program has been strained by recent restructuring.
Pulliam specifically mentioned the fence that APO volunteers painted. The fence runs around the center's property.
"It took me an entire summer to paint that fence myself," she said. "When I heard them cheering, I knew they were done and it brought tears to my eyes."
APO's work completed maintenance tasks that would have been left unattended, she added.
The Gallastar Equine Center was founded in 1994 and is among the first organizations that provides what is now called equine-assisted psychotherapy.
Van Denend was optimistic about the outcome of the project.
"The amount of work we managed to do in one day will have a lasting effect" at the center, she said.
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