December 2009 News...
Happy Holidays!
Dear Friends,
Horses for the Spirit is already looking to 2010 as we say goodbye to 2009. We had
a great year, although not without its challenges. (See below for the story of one
such challenge.)
This year we were able to conduct three programs (McGee Center, Social Services,
Children’s Cabinet), host a demonstration and hold our first annual “Wine &
Spirits” fundraiser. We had booths at Art Paws in the Park, the Wild Horse &
Burro Expo and some of our girls from the McGee Center program received free entry
with great seats for the Parelli Celebration so they could see natural horsemanship
from some top people. We also received a grant from the Reno Rodeo Foundation in
2009.
Reports in the news say that non-profits have had a tough time due to the economy.
We are extremely grateful for all the support we received this year — in terms
of financial support and hours spent volunteering for us. Regardless of the economy
and financial constraints, Horses for the Spirit will continue to serve as many
kids from Washoe County as we are able. Thanks to all of you who contributed in
any way, shape or form!
From the Horses for the Spirit “family” to you and yours, we wish you the best this
holiday season! We look forward to serving the community in 2010 and hope you’ll
join us along the way whether you volunteer, donate or just keep up with us through
our newsletters.
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BROKEN PIPES, FLOOD AT THE CLASSROOM
On Friday, December 11th at about 8 a.m. Deb Conrad received a phone call from one
of the tenants living at the property where our classroom is located. Pipes had
broken at some point the night before and our classroom was flooded.
The tenants had already done a lot for us — trying to keep our notebooks and brochures
and other items from being destroyed by water damage. They put buckets all over
the place to catch water that was still dripping from the ceiling and they turned
on heaters to try to get the place drying out.
The broken pipes were repaired and after assessing the damage, we think it will
be minimal. At this point it appears the carpets and couches will dry out and we
did not have to throw much out. We will re-assess the condition of the carpet and
the couches after the room has dried out pretty well. Our little classroom isn’t
fancy yet it serves us well. We hope we can get by without having to replace much
after all is said and done so we can put our funds toward what matters most to us:
the kids!
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PROGRAM WITH CHILDREN’S CABINET
The program with Children’s Cabinet was certainly challenged by the weather and
short days this winter. Regardless, Horses for the Spirit and the kids were able
to make it through quite a few sessions and have a great time learning some life
lessons with the horses.
“The kids are always wonderful,” says Robbie Maus. “There was one young man who
was terrified but fascinated. His curiosity overcame his fear, and
although still a bit nervous, he really ended up enjoying the program
and overcoming his fear.” These are the kinds of transformations of which we love
to be a part.
We are looking forward to continuing the relationship with Children’s Cabinet in
the Spring – hopefully Mother Nature will be a bit more cooperative at that time!
The graduation party for the Children’s Cabinet kids has been postponed until after
the beginning of the year.
Winter programs are often difficult for us because we do not have a covered arena
in which to conduct our programs. It is our desire to eventually have a place to
call home for our programs where we have a covered arena and are able to keep our
horses on-site.
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2010…
We have already begun discussions with McGee Center about running a program with
them in the Spring. We’ll be talking with Social Services soon to start planning
for a Spring program with them as well. We plan to continue our new relationship
with Children’s Cabinet also.
So all you volunteers out there who have been chomping at the bit to get back to
“work”, we hope to offer plenty of opportunities this spring. Hopefully we’ll also
have a couple programs in the Fall as well in 2010.
A Spring Clean-Up at the facility will be necessary before we start our programs,
so keep an eye out for the invitation to join us for some good old-fashioned, pull-up-your-sleeves-and-get-dirty kind of work!
This year we intend to get a volunteer training schedule in place by the end of
February, with a couple options throughout the year for those wishing to complete
the mandatory training. We’ve often found ourselves doing these trainings more last
minute than we’d like and we think it will be relief to everyone to have the dates
on the calendar well ahead of time!
We will have booths again at Art Paws in the Park and the Wild Horse & Burro
Expo and may consider other events as well. We are likely to have an entry in the
Reno Rodeo Parade again — it was a lot of fun in 2009 and we love to support the
Rodeo!
We’ll be doing more demos and getting our Wine & Spirits fundraiser on the calendar
as well.
We are looking forward to 2010 and hope you’ll be with us along the way!
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VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION PARTY
Last year we had our Volunteer/Supporter Appreciation Party in December. We have
decided to move the party to February and we’ll provide more details as soon as
we can.
We look forward to this party and the chance to just hang out and enjoy our volunteers
and friends. It is a chance for us to say Thank You and not put you to work at the
same time!
We hope to see you there — many of us will not have seen each other since the summer,
so it will be a great opportunity to catch up.
