5 minute freewrite 2719 prompt advertise in the local paper

This is my post for #freewriters 2719 prompt advertise in the local paper hosted by @mariannewest

Yesterday, I went to the Celebration of Life for the most caring person I have ever known, Miss Luara LaPorte, no one will ever be able to replace her. Luara was wheelchair bound for many years,she had MS but also was in a bad auto accident in the early 1990s, she seemed to go downhill from then on.

No one had a dry eye as words of praise were said, I expected more people to be there, I estimated 150 showed up, these were all friends of Luara. I thought more of the general public who had been bringing their children there would have shown up. I think everyone thought this because when they announced her service they said parking would be available at the Church on Roseland Road and a shuttle would take them to the farm. The Church parking was empty. I rode my bike and my sister rode my husband's bike because I thought there would be no parking.

Laura had a petting zoo for young children with all sorts of animals. She also had two ponds that she let children fish in. She supplied the fishing poles and bait. She had ponies for the children to ride. You could bring carrots or other veggies for the animals and feed them yourself. One of her favorites on the farm was George the lemur, he always sat on her lap at the farm and children loved to pet him.

I took these photos of the llama from LaPorte Farms facebook page.

When someone was having a special day a family member would call Luara and she would bring George and the llama, I forget its name, to their home. The llama rode in her van with her and George.

She would decorate him with a happy birthday necklace and a party hat or whatever the occasion was she dressed him for it, this one was for Christmas.

LaPorte Farms was much more than a petting zoo. If someone had cancer or another illness and needed money for their meds, Luara would host an event for them, she got restaurants to donate food, grocery stores donated, too, and every cent raised went to that person. When she held one of these events, there was no need for her to advertise in the local paper, word of mouth spread faster than a wildfire. Luara also had medical equipment that she loaned out for free or if needed she would give them away, things like electric wheelchairs, regular wheelchairs, crutches, things to help lift people, whatever you needed and could not afford to buy if she did not have it, she would help you locate them. She had closets full of clothes for women and children who had to leave their things behind when things did not work out at home, she has even homed battered women. She also helped the homeless. That is the kind of person she was.

On one of my visits with Luara, she told me that it was her parents dream to start the farm, and if it wasn't for my mother-in-law, that dream would not have come true. She told me that my husband's mom took out a life insurance policy on her parents and not long after that, they were killed in a car accident. My mother-in-law gave all of the money to Luara, and she was able to keep the land her parents owned and wanted to start the farm. I have always wondered why my mother-in-law took out the insurance policy. Did she get a sign from God to do so? Luara said because of my mother-in-law she was able to fulfeel her parents dream.

I do not know what is to come for the farm, you always hear rumours, so I will say any thing I know, is a rumour. I heard it was for sale, then I heard her son was going to run it and I heard he fired everyone who works there, even the people who have been there for years. Like I said this is rumours, it will be interesting to see what happens, I hope they keep it in the family.

I do know one thing about being there yesterday, it was my first day since Luara passed and it was a sad day, but to me the air felt as if something was missing, a huge something,

Luara is what is missing, and I could see it in the animals eyes, especially George's eyes.

I do not like places that keep animals in cages but I have to say, Luara cared about every animal she had, she did things right with them, they were all well fed and had regular Vet check-ups. You can go to this site if you would like to see some of the animals she kept, https://www.facebook.com/laura.laporte.102/photos_by
all photos except for the llama photos are mine