Bayer CropScience team helps create healing spaces

Environmental Science, a division of Bayer CropScience LP, gathered more than 200 employee volunteers on Bayer’s 150^th anniversary, Aug. 1,  to foster a healthier space for people in need at Zuma’s Rescue Ranch. Zuma's Rescue Ranch is an animal-assisted learning center in Denver that pairs rescued horses with at-risk children to help them learn to bond, build trust and develop life skills to support their future. Bayer donated employee time, expertise and manpower to provide this facility with much needed beautification, new construction and maintenance updates.

"As Bayer celebrates 150 years of Science For A Better Life, our work at Zuma’s expresses how we at Environmental Science live out this mission," said Gilles Galliou, president of Environmental Science North America at Bayer CropScience. "We are passionate about fostering healthy environments where we live, work and play, and we hope that our service and Bayer Advanced product donations benefit Zuma's Rescue Ranch for years to come."

Jodi and Paul Messenich founded Zuma's Rescue Ranch in 2004 with the mission to provide a place of sanctuary and healing for the voiceless humans and animals in the metro Denver region.

"The wellness programs we’ve developed at Zuma's Rescue Ranch promote healing – and Bayer's volunteers helped us reclaim areas of the Ranch we simply didn't have the resources to maintain," said co-founder Jodi Messenich. "We're excited to continue our work, and thank Bayer for giving the organization an image it can be proud of."

Bayer employees broke into task force teams to complete site improvements including the construction and restoration of landscape beds, garden gates and walkways. The team built and installed a pergola, a duck pond and a chicken coop as well as landscaped the facility’s outdoor venue, cleaned stalls, seeded pastures, and painted Zuma’s signs and indoor arena. Bayer Advanced donated products from its Natria line of non-synthetic solutions to protect the facility against pests, weeds and diseases, and to support both onsite activities and ongoing maintenance