HOLLY POND, Ala. – Most Cullmanites are familiar with The Foundry Thrift Store which sits along U.S. Highway 31 South. Some may not know The Foundry is a faith-based rehabilitation organization and ministry out of Bessemer that has thrift stores located in Cullman, Fairfield and Pelham. The stores financially support the ministry, and one of the ministry’s campuses is The Foundry Farm located in Holly Pond. The Foundry Farm houses male program participants who work at the Cullman thrift store, as well as the farm, where, teaching by faith, the ministry hopes to help break the chains of addiction and prepare program participants for gainful employment.
The most recent addition to The Foundry Farm’s employment-readiness portion of the program is a newly constructed (and stocked) hen house, which will benefit all Foundry programs.
The Tribune spoke with Foundry Farm Program Director Eddie Wilson to learn more.
“Its sole purpose is employment-readiness to teach program participants about the poultry industry as it pertains to laying hens and egg production,” said Wilson. “Employment-readiness means we teach and train program participants different trades when they come in our program, so when they graduate, they can possibly enter that type field of work when they go out on their own. This is teaching them the hen laying egg process of the poultry industry. Up to two or three program participants will be assigned to the hen house permanently and will be learning this trade through the direction of Foundry Farm Manager David Hall. He’ll be overseeing and guiding these men, along with program participants who already have the knowledge of what they’re doing, because being from the Cullman community, it’s one of the biggest poultry leaders.”
The 300 hens were donated by Lee Haynes of Haynes Farms and Nature’s Best Eggs; they are cage-free, have had no antibiotics and are fed with all-natural feed.
Wilson said the eggs collected from the hens will be used by all Foundry resident programs.
“Not only are these (eggs) going to feed everyone in our program here, but we’ll also be sharing them with our ministries in Bessemer, with all of our programs with the Foundry ministries as a whole, which is going to be around 400 people at any given time.”
Construction of the hen house began last summer and concluded with the hens being put in last Wednesday, June 3, 2020.
Wilson said of the hen house, “This house is only made possible through generous volunteers and donors who have contributed, whether it be physical labor or their products from their businesses locally here, and Lee Haynes with Haynes Farm and Nature’s Best Eggs, who gave all the hens to us, who were already laying when we received them. Locally everything has been donated and given to us, from labor and construction of the house to the supplies, materials and everything from our friends and generous volunteers and donors here in the Cullman community.”
Wilson said any additional supplies needed for the hen house will be bought locally.
He gave credit for the original idea of a hen house to valued Foundry advocate and supporter David Ozment.
“David started this conversation over three years ago and has overseen organizing every detail that has gone into the hen house becoming a reality,” said Wilson. “We talked about different ways we could do different things on our property for employment-readiness, and the hen house was just from a conversation three years ago, and now here we are. It was his idea for us to do something; we just started talking about it regularly and here we are three years later.”
Wilson provided a list of local businesses who contributed:
- Lee Haynes from Haynes Farm and Nature’s Best Eggs contributed 300 hens already laying eggs.
- Andy Ratliff from Farmers Poultry Supply contributed feeders, waterers, nests, fans, lights, light timers, heater, sidewall curtains, curtain winches and a bulk feed bin.
- Zac Smith of AGCOR furnished metal for the roof, trusses, walls and doors.
- Alan Walker of Walker Brothers provided wood and other materials.
- Gary Hooten of Hooten Construction, provided the preparation of the building pad and other dirt moving work at the farm.
- Kirkpatrick Concrete furnished and finished 1,000 square feet of concrete for the house.
- Cullman Electric Cooperative furnished the power pole and wiring to the hen house.
- Tony Sweatmon wired the hen house.
- Others who weren’t named who graciously donated their resources and volunteered their time to make the hen house possible
Find out more about The Foundry at https://foundryministries.com/programs/recovery-program.
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