✨Hoku Lio Farms — 2025 Highlights ✨

A year of healing, connection, learning, and transformation with horses and community.

🌿 Children’s Programs for Keiki from the Waimānalo Emergency Center

🌱 Creating Safe, Nurturing Learning Environments

In 2025, Hoku Lio Farms continued to offer consistent, relationship-centered programming for children living at the Waimānalo Emergency Center, providing a sense of safety, joy, and connection during times of housing instability. Through farm- and animal-centered experiences, children engaged in calming, supportive activities that encouraged trust, curiosity, and emotional grounding.

🍃 Supporting Social-Emotional Learning Through Nature and Animals

Hoku Lio Farms’ programming intentionally supports social-emotional learning (SEL) by helping children:

Develop self-awareness through mindful observation and gentle interaction
Practice self-regulation using breathing, movement, and sensory engagement
Build social skills through cooperative activities and respectful communication
Strengthen empathy and compassion by caring for animals and the land
Increase confidence and resilience through building relationships with horses

These outcomes align with trauma-informed, developmentally appropriate approaches that support emotional growth and well-being.

🌿 Strengthening Resilience for Children and Families

By bringing nature-based, trauma-informed programming directly to children and families living in emergency housing, Hoku Lio Farms helps reduce stress, foster emotional balance, and create moments of joy and connection. In 2025, this partnership continued to deepen community relationships and expand access to meaningful learning experiences for children facing significant life challenges.

🌿 Community Team-Building & Horse Experience Days

2025 brought powerful moments of connection as Hoku Lio Farms welcomed a variety of organizations for immersive equine-guided learning:

HMSA Foundation — Participants from Customer and Government Relations Team experienced collaborative exercises with the herd, fostering emotional intelligence, mindful communication, and stress resilience.
Life Transformed with Rikka Zimmerman — Participants deepened personal awareness and healing through guided horse interactions, presence practices, and transformational coaching.
Waimānalo Emergency Shelter Staff — A morning of grounding, teamwork, and renewal centered on meeting and interacting with the animals, and experiencing some of what the children would experience in a horse and farm class.

Each group left with greater cohesion, clarity, and a renewed sense of inner calm inspired by the wisdom of the herd.

🎶 Sound & Music Healing Sessions

Healing sound baths and live music experiences offered by Dr. Meghan Barrett of Muse Veterinary Practice and Laurie Freed of Yoga Moves Hawaii, wove through the year, supporting nervous-system regulation and emotional release. Horses and humans alike found harmony as tones and rhythms filled the pastures, creating a unique multisensory healing environment.

🐴 Herd Gatherings & Special Speakers

Hoku Lio Farms continued to expand its offerings by hosting thought-leaders and wellness practitioners:

Dr. Penny Lloyd Of Conncection Medicine — Shared insights on integrative health, equine-assisted awareness, and the biology of connection.
Donna Eshelman — Feldenkrais® Practioner and student of Tellington TTouch® methods . At Hoku Lio Farms, we are deeply grateful for the ongoing contribution of Donna Eshelman, whose work has significantly strengthened our animal care and volunteer education programs. Following our four-day clinic with Linda Tellington-Jones in December 2024, Donna has continued to support Hoku Lio Farms throughout 2025, helping us integrate and advance these evidence-based, trauma-informed practices.
A certified Feldenkrais practitioner, Donna donates her time to provide Feldenkrais sessions for the animals at Hoku Lio Farms and to train volunteers in Tellington Touch® and Tellington TTouch® methods. Her instruction enhances humane handling, improves horse well-being, and builds volunteer skill, confidence, and consistency. Donna’s ongoing service has had a meaningful and lasting impact on the welfare of our animals and the capacity of our program.

These gatherings strengthened community bonds and deepened collective understanding of holistic wellbeing.

🌿 Rescued Hearts Film Screenings

In 2025, Hōkū Lio Farms hosted two community screenings of Rescued Hearts, a film that reflects the organization’s mission of healing, compassion, and connection between people, animals, and the land. These events served as meaningful opportunities for community engagement, education, and dialogue centered on rescue, resilience, and care.

🤝 Community Partnerships, Volunteers & Filmmaker Engagement

The first screening was hosted by Hōkū Lio Farms and shown at C4 Church Kahala, made possible through the generous support of community partners including the HMSA Foundation, Bank of Hawaiʻi, Waimānalo Feed, Kalapawai Market, and C4 Church Kahala. The screening was supported by the dedication of Hōkū Lio Farms volunteers, whose time and aloha spirit were essential to the success of the event. Their collective support enabled an inclusive and welcoming experience for community members who also enjoyed learning about Hoku Lio Farms children’s programs.

The second screening, featuring the full Rescued Hearts film, was sponsored by Colibri Ranch Connects and held at Kailua Cinemas, expanding the reach of the program to a broader audience in an independently owned traditional theater setting. Hōkū Lio Farms was honored to welcome the Rescued Hearts filmmakers, Dana Crochere and Krisanna Sexton to Oʻahu, further enriching the educational and community impact of the screening.

💫 Impact

These screenings represent a key 2025 program highlight and demonstrate the power of partnership, storytelling, and community collaboration in advancing the mission of Hōkū Lio Farms.

💛 A Year of Transformation

From healing circles to leadership development, from somatic learning to community service partnerships, 2025 at Hoku Lio Farms reflected a commitment to: