Newsletter - Spring 2006
Rider
and Volunteer Appreciation Dinner held Feb. 19th at KSDS.
It turned out
to be a rather chilly evening but 32 people ventured out for the supper that
evening. The supper was open to
volunteers and their families, as well as, riders and their families. The KSDS training room was very active as we
all visited and the kids played with some of the activities and games we play
during riding sessions. Dieck’s Catering of Linn, provided
a wonderful meal of BBQ Brisket for us, which was topped off with ice
cream. We had our annual nominations for
Horse of the Year, Rider of the Year, and Volunteer of the Year. Who was the horse that you thought gave unselfishly
of themselves, had the patience of a saint and a toleration level that could
put up with all we did? Buff,
Independence Farms’ own horse, which has just recently passed away, won this
award. Who do you think was the rider
who improved the most for the year?
Mallory, who is five years of age, from Abilene, won this award. Of course all our riders are to be
commended. Most of their achievements
have been accomplished after many hard hours of practice,
encouragement and determination. And who do you think was the volunteer of the
year? Vern Fulton. Vern was the volunteer of the year winner in
2004 also and it’s easy to understand why.
The other volunteers find him fun to work with, the riders find him fun
to work with and I believe even the horses find Vern
fun to work with. He gives so
unselfishly of himself to make someone else’s life better. Vern receives many a smile from our riders as
his rewards, but we also gave him and Mallory NARHA Horse of the Year
calendars. They feature Buff as Mr.
December. All present were encouraged to
join up and become a member of NARHA, so this way we could nominate them next
summer for NARHA’s Volunteer and Rider of the Year contests. We nominated Buff this last year, and look
at the honors he was bestowed!
Cowboy’s
Custom Cycle sponsors fundraiser for Independence Farms.
Hey, you want to buy a chance to win a Harley? The
tickets are $25.00.
Who wouldn’t jump at this chance? So the tickets sold like hot cakes.
Everyone wants a Harley! I know I wouldn’t mind owning one…
Well,
Norm Nutsch, who is better know as Cowboy, and is owner of Cowboy’s Custom
Cycle located just east of Washington on Highway 36, along with office
personnel, Do-Da Miller, are responsible for raising $1325 for Independence
Farms, with this very idea.
Everybody
got into this fundraiser, making it a big success! The community really supported their efforts,
many people help sell chances, and it didn’t take long to get the 400 chances
that were printed up sold. DoDa originally
came up with the idea shortly after the first of the year, and Cowboy, Norm,
backed it. It would be a chance to win a
2003 Harley Davidson Sportster Motorcycle.
Only 400 tickets would be made up and sold, with the goal being to have them all sold by the end of January so that the drawing
could be held in conjunction with a Customer Appreciation day that Cowboy was
having. With all the help and support
DoDa got, it was easy to achieve her goal in about a three weeks time
period. The drawing was held Jan. 28th
at Cowboy’s shop just shortly after midnight, actually making it Jan. the 29th. The shop was full to capacity as many were
present hoping it would be their ticket drawn and that they could ride their
newly won bike home. Winner of the bike
was Jan Albert of Beatrice, NE. She wasn’t not present that evening, but she
was down to claim her cycle as soon as she could. A local resident, Jann Jensen sold her the
winning ticket. DoDa and friend, Brenda
McCormack of Hanover, presented to Independence Farms at the drawing, a large
etched oval mirror that they did, featuring the logo of Independence
Farms. The mirror was donated by the
local Duckwalls store. Marcon Pies also
got involved in the fundraiser by providing ten pies for the night of the drawing
and they were auctioned off for additional monies.
The 2006 Region 7 Conference was in Waterloo, IA on March 3-5. Two from Independence Farms attended the three-day conference. Michelle Woerner is the NARHA KS State Representative and Terri Gauby, is the Region 7 secretary. They each had some specific jobs they needed to do at the conference besides attending the education workshops and business meeting. They both consider it an honor and a privilege to share in the decision making for the industry. Michelle and Terri always try to attend separate workshops in hopes of gaining more knowledge overall to bring back to their center. Michelle usually attends the Instructor workshops and Terri attends the Administrative workshops. Friday afternoon featured a Pre-conference workshop followed by Center Accreditation Training. Due to travel time and prior committee meetings, neither Michelle nor Terri were able to make these. However, Saturday morning started bright and early as both of them attended workshops from 8 till noon. Then at noon, there was a review and discussion of upcoming standards and definitions that NARHA is processing to include in their manual. The afternoon took them to a local barn, where they learned about keeping the therapy horse fit. Lunging was covered and demonstrated. Several other riding demonstrations were also giving. Saturday evening concluded with a banquet meal followed by a panel of parents, school professionals and riders who shared with all, the benefits that they, or their child or their students/clients were receiving from equine assisted activities. It was a very touching to hear what kind of differences that centers are making in others lives. Sunday, was the Region 7 business meeting. Several items were discussed and will be printed up in the next newsletter. But the highlights of the meeting were where to have next year’s conference and to revote on whether or not to continue to the State representatives scholarships to the conference. We then broke into State meetings. Region 7 is made up of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana and Illinois. The highlights of these meetings were the State meetings, where and when they would be. The weather traveling to Waterloo was great, but the return trip home became a little challenging as the weather changed. The last speaker for the conference was able to get there and most headed home early as weather conditions would be making it difficult. Michelle and Terri fought about 2 inches of snow and sleet for the first half of the trip home. Special thanks goes to Hank and Rita Wilson of Shell Rock, IA. Through Michelle’s association with KSDS, she came to know and befriended Hank and Rita. They graciously let Michelle and Terri stay with them for the conference. It not only helps keep expenses down, but it was a great way to get to know other people and something about their area while sharing what we at Independence Farms are doing. Michelle and Terri not only gain knowledge on this trip, but also expanded their network of friends who also believe in helping others.
Does or club or organization need a program? How about you let us do the presentation. Call 785-325-2719 to visit with someone about it. We love what we do and we’d love to tell you and your club or organization about us!