By Sarah Brackin
Homemade Hugs is a new group run by three women who decided to get together and share their gift of love with collegiate students.
Earlier this week Susan King, Trish Albritton and Lenda Freeman, three grandmothers from Choudrant, joined each other at Louisiana Tech’s Centennial Plaza with various pets to bring hugs to the students. They knew that some students felt homesick from their family so they wanted to provide an opportunity for them to taste homemade desserts and hug a grandma once again.
Albritton said, “We knew that this was exactly what we needed to do so we just kept rolling with it until we got it all together and this our first time.”
For their first outing, they brought with them a Golden Retriever puppy named Jinx, two pygmy goats named Julie and Lily, and a squirrel named Scratch. These animals are Choudrant residents’ own pets that they lent King, Albritton and Freeman for the event.
Nursing student Haylie Davis said, “I’ve been going through a rough time right now, and they’ll have dogs, yeah they’re cute, but seeing a goat, that’s unique, and to me it was like a boost of happiness…It’s absolutely a stress reliever, this is a serotonin boost.”
The women of Homemade Hugs want to get to know the students more and put a smile on their faces.
Choudrant Mayor and owner of the pygmy goats Bill Sanderson said, “The part that I love is I get to talk with them and hear stories; a neighbor had goats or they had goats at some point in time and how much they enjoyed them.”
The women aim to hold this event on the third Tuesday of every month from 11-2 p.m. with different animals each time.
Next month expect to see a litter of kittens. Students can play with them, hold them and even have a chance to take them home as their pet.
Albritton said, “The goal is to let everyone know that we care, that there’s someone out here that does care.”
The only price to pay for home is a hug.
