03/23/2021
Dreams really do come true...
Betsy Davidheiser-Shank is our Founder, Executive Director, and Rehabilitator. She was enjoying life in the fast lane of corporate America, working on her education in Business Management and reaching for milestones when she stumbled upon a baby squirrel. That was April 16, 2010. Since that day, it has been virtually nothing but wildlife for Betsy. Her fast-paced life came to a screeching halt about a year later when 5 baby squirrels were given to her.
In order to keep an income, she started her own business sewing bedding for small caged animals; with a direct concentration on sturdiness for the “wild” ones. In between projects she was navigating through the process to become a wildlife rehabilitator. She trained under several rehabilitators in many states and learned as much as she possibly could.
It didn’t take too awfully long (only 10 years) before her husband realized this was the new normal and embraced her desire to open her own facility specializing in squirrels, cottontails, and woodchucks. Betsy says, “I feel that I am doing exactly what I was put on this Earth to do, I am most alive while working with my critters.”
Having served on several non-profit boards over the years she wanted to found her own. “My husband’s last name means “little acorn”, of all the trees in our nearly 1-acre yard my favorite is an Oak, and my favorite wild animal is the squirrel. Acorn Acres felt natural, it was the right thing to do.”
She wrote her Pennsylvania state test for wildlife rehabilitator, then tested for and earned the Certified Wildlife Rehabilitator (CWR) designation (a professional designation for individuals in the field of wildlife rehabilitation), while waiting for the IRS to provide the letter of determination for the non-profit. She remembers days of the past fondly and would like to eventually obtain her MBA.