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Group Helpers
A special thank you to the following groups who volunteered their time and services to Horses Help!
|  | University of Phoenix
Ground Pole and Barrel Painting!
AETNA West House Garage Clean-Out and Bonnie Plant Delivery Day! 
Charles Schwab Gardening & Planting!  Boeing
Lifestyle Expo & Spring Show! Not Pictured: AAEC American Express ASU ROTC Brophy Mother/Daughter Club Phoenix Business Owners PVCC Emerging Leaders If you have a group or know of a group that is interested in helping at one of our events or around the facility, please email leah.s@horseshelp.org |
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Volunteers of the Year
Please extend a Horses Help high-five and job well done to our 2011 volunteers of the year!
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| Dana began volunteering in 2008 and is one of our Advanced Horse Handlers. She has been an integral part of our Saturday volunteer crew over the past year. Swing by Navi's stall and say hello some time, that's probably where you will find her!
Brea joined us in May of last year in order to complete her Community Service requirement for Xavier College Preparatory. She has since volunteered on both Wednesday and Thursday nights and has been an amazing mentor for incoming student volunteers as well as a favorite "coach" of many of our riders.
Katelynn only joined us last November, but since she has made quite an impression on our Horses Help Herd roping in over 215 hours! This is her "dream job" and she wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Andrea, or "Z" as most of know her by is one of our primary Horse Handler Trainers. Without her dedication and passion to our amazing herd we wouldn't have anyone to lead them in class. |
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Volunteer Hour Recognition
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Congratulations to the following volunteers who logged 100+ volunteer hours over the past ride year!
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200+ Hours
Jen Shakan - 222Katelynn White - 214Claudia Weitz - 211Lorie Montgomery - 207
150+ Hours Julia Shepherd - 165Patty Kigin - 161Alex Graham - 154
100+ Hours
Connie Oddo - 143Whitney Benes - 136Brea Stuns - 120Raegan Chambers - 115Dana Croschere - 107Sandy Katz - 106
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Become a $5.00 monthly donor and help support our new and upcoming summer programs!
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Click Me!
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Greetings!
The time has come and our 24th ride year is slowly winding down to an end.
I want to extend a personal "Thank You" to each and every volunteer that dedicated time with us over the past year. It was action packed with numerous events and fundraisers and none of it was possible without you!
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 | Ride Year 2011 Statistics
| Clientele
- Therapeutic Riding - 180
- Hippotherapy - 18
- Military Support Program - 77
- 180 Total Clients Served!
Educational Series
- NARHA Workshop/Certification Attendees - 32
- Horsemanship 101/102 Attendees - 31
- CPR/FIrst Aid Trained - 31
- Instructor Prep Class Attendees - 38
- NARHA State Meeting Attendees - 40
Volunteer & Staff - 250+ Total Volunteers
- Avg. Weekly Volunteers - 124
- Age Range: 14 - 73
- Volunteer Hours - 6000+ since August 1st, 2010!
- Contract Therapists - 4
- Staff - 1 Full Time, 9 Part-Time
Horses - 21 Horses and/or Ponies have worked in the program over the past year
- 16 Active Horses and/or Ponies are currently in the program
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| Volunteer Appreciation Picnic
| As many of you may have noticed, this was the first year we chose not to hold a center-wide Volunteer Appreciation Day. We did this for a couple reasons, mainly being we felt everyone was burnt out from all of our spring-time activities and making you all come out here for one more day just didn't seem fair.
However, volunteers were not forgotten! This year we decided to host individual appreciation days focused on each instructors particular teaching day and time.  | | Star and Stefan (Brophy College Prep) post apple bobbing at the Saturday volunteer appreciation day |
Monday and Thursday morning volunteers enjoyed a "Thank You" breakfast courtesy of Michelle, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Nights enjoyed delicious pizza, soda and lots of cookies and desert.
Saturday on the other hand was a bit different, Gregg was not about to let everyone get away without his infamous Volunteer Olympics. No one was quite ready for what he had prepared, but everyone (even though exhausted from morning classes) buckled up and enjoyed some fun activities including Face the Oreo, "Fuzzy Bunny" Marshmallow Eating, Luna-Poo Races, Water Balloon Toss and Apple Bobbing versus the infamous Star. The afternoon concluded with a fierce watermelon eating contest between instructors.
Additionally, volunteers who have logged 50 or more total hours also received a Volunteer Certificate. If you think you have one, be sure to stop by the main office and pick yours up!
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| The Stephanie Chance "Student Volunteer of the Year" College Scholarship Award
Sponsored by Mutual of Omaha
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 | | Stephanie working with one of our riders, Brady. |
Stephanie, a long time volunteer during high school went on to graduate from the University of Arizona and become a CPA. Upon graduation, Stephanie returned to Horses Help where she continued her service helping with riders and providing finance expertise. Stephanie decided to go global last summer and joining the Peace Corp and during her service passed away. Horses Help wanted to continue to carry her passion for service and love for Horses Help by providing an oppurtunity for one of our student volunteers who meet the critera for her passion of service and leadership with a $1500.00 scholarship to the Arizona school of their choice.  Mutual of Omaha, Chris and Theresa Chance and Mother Kathy will be on hand this year at the Big Bad Barn Bash to present the award to a deserving student volunteer. If you are a current student volunteer interested in applying for this scholarship, please send an e-mail to leah.s@horseshelp.org |
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Cardinals Crew 2011-2012
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For those unaware, last year we received an amazing opportunity to work a main concession stand and beer portable at Cardinals Stadium. In return for our work we received 11% of the profits in addition to all the tips collected. Last year $13,000 came back to Horses Help!
So, put your jersey on, throw your whistle around your neck and toss a hot dog (or few) on the grill as football approaches, and we gear up for our second season as a "Cardinals Crew"!!!!
If you are interested in being a part of the Caridnals Crew for the upcoming football season, please send an e-mail to leah.s@horseshelp.org. You must be at least 19 years old and willing to attend a training session between mid July and early August. If you participated last year you do not need to go through training again.
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| Committee Members Wanted:
|  We are currently forming our committee and its members for our largest fundraiser of the year, the Big Bad Barn Bash.
For volunteers who wish to stay involved with center without being outside in the heat this is a great way to help out.
Particularly throughout the summer months we are looking for Hunter & Gatherers. This entails venturing out into your community and collecting donation items for our silent auction or raffle.
If you are interested in helping out as a Hunter & Gatherer or as a general member of this committee, please email leah.s@horseshelp.org.
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Volunteer Mentor Program
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Orientation is packed full of valuable information, however, as most of you know it can be overwhelming and most often the majority of what we talk about is forgotten. I am looking for 6-10 volunteers who would like to mentor incoming and new volunteers on their start day. This process will help to ensure their own success as a volunteer and allow them to have someone to help answer any questions they may have about what they need to be doing.
If you think you might be interested in becoming a Volunteer Mentor, please send me an e-mail (leah.s@horseshelp.org) along with your tentative Fall availability. I would like to have 1-2 Volunteer Mentors scheduled for each class time (ex. Tuesday AM, Wednesday PM, Saturday AM, etc.).
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Again, I can not even begin to thank all of the groups and individual volunteers who have dedicated time to us over the past year.
Even more so, I appreciate all your patience as I took over the position from Robin this past January. I will be spending much of our down-time in the upcoming summer months to further develop our volunteer program and I can not wait for my first whole ride year as your Volunteer Coordinator.
Should you have any questions, comments or improvement ideas please be sure to send me an e-mail!
Sincerely,
Leah
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