Local North Carolina woman finds her calling through aiding children and animals in need

“When spirits run free, there are no limitations”

- Kopper Top Life Learning Center motto

Deborah Meridith has dedicated over 30 years of her life to helping children and animals in need. Since founding Kopper Top Life Learning Center in Liberty, North Carolina in 1990, Meridith has changed so many lives, and perhaps most profoundly has given countless opportunities to kids and animals who would not have been given a chance without her.

After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a degree in recreation therapy, Meridith spent nearly a decade working with the Alamance County Parks and Recreation Department as a recreation coordinator and animal therapist. Because of her fruitful work with this agency, the county asked her to start an equestrian team, which she then quickly took to the Special Olympics and World Games.

As more people throughout the county and state began to hear about Meridith’s success and her impressive team, her clientele grew rapidly. Close family members and friends made it clear that she would have to make a choice. What began as a hobby, quickly became a life changing decision to quit her job and start a nonprofit organization.

“It just happened,” Meridith said. “It was God telling me that’s what I’m going to do.”

Kopper Top, named after Meridith’s first horse Kopper, has grown exponentially over the past three decades, helping children with special needs learn the proper skills they require in life, and rehabilitating and training rescue animals. The nonprofit organization is home to 33 acres of farmland and 170 animals that are under Meridith’s close care every day.

While most of Meridith’s time as director of Kopper Top is comprised of habitual tasks or tending to the farm, it is the special moments with her students and animals that mean the most to her.

“Seeing the smiles, everything they’ve learned and gained is rewarding,” Meridith said. “They’ve pushed me to keep going.”

Meridith and her team at Kopper Top help students with special needs by giving them the opportunity to learn the same skills anyone else needs to get through life, practicing through the responsibility of animals and more specifically, riding horses.

“Here, [we teach] them the care and maintenance of an animal,” she said. “If you want to do something, you have to do it yourself.”

Meridith explained they first have to be trained and learn the basics, like anyone else would do before riding the horses. Her students learn to groom, saddle, and communicate with the horses in order to be a responsible rider.

“There’s lessons that people don’t even think about that translates to horses and animals,” Meridith said, describing the way her student’s learning manifests in everyday activities.

Meridith has been an integral part of her students’ lives and has made an impact beyond her wildest dreams. A set of twins with down syndrome, for example, have nearly become family to Meridith, and have been involved in Kopper Top since they were 8, taking lessons and volunteering most of their lives. The now 37-year-olds have competed in horse shows, including the Special Olympics, and now work at a K & W Cafeterias, thanks to the skills learned at Kopper Top and the amazing work of Meridith herself.

Another student came to Meridith from Chicago with brain injuries, after being hit by a drunk driver on the way to church with his family. Unable to walk or communicate, this 17-year-old was told by doctors he would not have the chance to gain any of those skills back. However, after 15 years or training and therapy at Kopper Top, he is currently able to talk understandably and move with assistance.

“I don’t give up,” Meridith said in response to these uplifting stories. “[It] gives me gratification helping others and the animals, seeing what’s possible.”

She also prides Kopper Top on its commitment to acceptance and inclusion throughout the farm. Being kind and friendly is the only requirement to get involved at Kopper Top, and Meridith believes this sets the farm apart from other organizations of the same kind.

“All the animals get along here, and I expect that from everyone else,” she said.

It is incredibly important to Meridith that the environment at Kopper Top both acknowledge and accept the challenges that many of her students face, because those differences are what make them so special.

“Who’s normal,” Meridith asked. “What is normal?”

Meridith’s dedication to Kopper Top, and her students specifically, is inspiring, a lesson we could all take note of in these particularly challenging times.

For Elon University sophomore, Kasey Fountain, Kopper Top has been that source of inspiration, becoming a formative part of her college experience. She first heard about the farm during the Student Organization Fair at the Elon Volunteers! table her first semester of college. Because she had grown up working at animal therapy farms across North Carolina, Fountain was particularly drawn to the Kopper Top volunteer section of this club.

Since then, she has spent a significant amount of time at the farm and has worked her way up to the links position of Elon Volunteers!, coordinating any activities between Kopper Top and Elon students. This has given her the opportunity to get close with Meridith and see her incredible work on a regular basis.

“[Meridith] is very passionate about what she does,” Fountain said. “You know she loves it.”

She is continuously encouraged by the selfless and dedicated work of Meridith and is grateful to help this organization in any way possible. She said it is impressive to watch a session and experience the growth these kids achieve firsthand, especially the students that have been working with Meridith for so many years. Fountain respects and furthermore admires the countless hours the director spends not only tending to the farm, but more importantly aiding these children in any challenges they may face through animal therapy.

“The work she’s doing is what’s most important to her. She puts the animals and kids before anything else,” Fountain said. “She’s not in it for the money.”

After a surprising student turnout this semester, Fountain encourages even more Elon students to reach out and volunteer with Kopper Top, not only to receive those hard-earned service hours, but also to experience something so outside of their comfort zones.

“I wish more Elon kids knew or cared about the farm,” she said. “It will encourage them to look past appearances.”

Typical volunteer work includes construction around the farm, feeding the animals, cleaning, or helping with anything that needs to be done for Kopper Top. Fountain emphasized how rewarding her entire experience with has been with the farm and is hopeful more students are inspired by the incredible opportunity to help Meridith and the organization as a whole.

Another Elon student volunteer, Callahan Johnston, reveres Meridith as a caring and thoughtful individual, serving as a constant reminder of how we can always better ourselves and do more for those in our community.

“She’s a passionate and hardworking woman whom I admire,” Johnston said.

After returning from her first Kopper Top volunteering experience the fall of her sophomore year, Johnston was eager to tell her peers not only about the opportunities on the farm, but more so about Meridith’s heartwarming story. She was lucky enough to speak with the director one on one but hearing about the farm’s recent struggles was discouraging to Johnston. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other responsibilities, Kopper Top has been battling financial issues, so Johnston, along with Fountain have been working hard throughout the year to find ways Elon students can help to aid this important cause.

“She can make you cry,” Johnston said, describing the struggles Meridith told her were occurring on the farm.

While Kopper Top has brought Meridith so much joy over the past 30 years, she also said nothing about it has been easy. Kopper Top has of course gone through ups and downs, but Meridith has never failed to smile and do whatever it takes to get through the adversity. She mentioned that just weeks ago the organization only had $100 in their bank account, but her expression showed she knew the farm would get through it. In her eyes, there is simply no other option.

“[Kopper Top] can give me a lot of anxiety and grief wondering if we’re gonna be open tomorrow,” Meridith said. “But God keeps saying you’re gonna be fine.”

Overall, Meridith’s message is simple.

“I teach them so in life so they can do things,” she said candidly.

Meridith’s dedication to Kopper Top and everything is stands for seems almost unbelievable in an age of such division and dismay. It is not every day that you come across someone so selfless and devoted to her work. She is clearly doing what she was born to do: giving children and animals a second chance, and the beautiful life they deserve.

When people show you who they are, believe them. Meridith has showed an incredible effort over her 30-year tenure as director of the Kopper Top Life Learning Center, taking every opportunity possible to help those in need throughout her community. She chose this path, and since has helped hundreds of families and animals, letting their spirits run free, without limitations.

For more information or to donate to Kopper Top Life Learning Center, visit the website to help assist for the animals and program participants.