When Centralia High School published a Facebook post in November 2022 soliciting ideas for a construction project the school’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) class could complete, senior Gracee Cline figured it was the perfect opportunity to get some pens made for her goats.
Cline has been building her Boer goat herd since her sophomore year at Centralia High School through the local Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter and now has nine goats living at her farm, Incline Goats, in Centralia.
“We reached out to them just to get these little, tiny small pens for them, and they came back with bigger drafts that were basically like mini houses,” Cline said.
The goal of the class is to teach students how to build people-sized houses, Cline explained, so when the students asked if they could incorporate a house-like design into the goat structures, Cline said “sure, why not? I mean, the goats will be able to jump on them and feel safe and everything.”
Cline and the CTE class decided to make five goat houses, with Cline buying the material and the CTE students providing the labor.
She purchased the lumber through Lincoln Creek Lumber but when it came time to buy the tin through another seller a few days later, the prices had doubled.
Unsure how she was going to afford to get tin for the project, Cline sent emails out to several local businesses asking for discounts and donations to cover part of the cost.
One of the businesses Cline reached out to was Tin Men Supply Inc., a locally-owned manufacturer based in Centralia.
Unbeknownst to Cline at the time, Tin Men Supply’s owner, Janelle Rich, is a Centralia High School graduate. After hearing Cline’s proposal, Rich gave the company permission to donate all the material Cline still needed for her project, a total value of $1,700.
“They just offered it to me and I was like ‘that’s awesome,’” Cline said.
As of Friday, two of the five goat houses had been finished and delivered to Cline’s farm.
“I was and still am over the moon about this partnership,” Cline said, referring to the CTE class and Tin Men Supply.
Once all five goat houses are complete, Cline plans to set each house up with its own small, fenced pasture area and move the goats in.
