Physical Health United States Project #21068

Help Harness The Power Of Equine Assisted Wellness

by The Center for Equine Assisted Wellness, Inc.

Project Report | Jul 19, 2016
Our heartfelt thanks, for all of your support!

By Colleen Cheechalk | Project Leader

Dear Friends,

First, I would like to apologize for the delay in sending you a timely update from The Center, it wasn't our intention to be distant, as we truly appreciate your support and always hope to keep you up to date.

The last 18 months have been difficult. I have been fighting against life threatening illness, which has meant our ability to raise funds for the services we offer has suffered, just as much as my ability to deliver them. This is something that all micro-organizations face, and unfortunately, we were not immune. For over a decade this work has been a labor of love, but now with my declining health, and our dear horses beginning to seek a quieter pace after delivering thousands of hours of programming, we believe it is time to step into a new role in the field of Equine Assisted Therapies and Activities, and leave a legacy of our good work in the form of change for this growing, but sometimes confused industry.

Effective June 1st, 2016 The Center For Equine Assisted Wellness began a new mission, the research and development of programs and practices that not only enhance the wellness of the client, but also of the horses that make equine assisted therapies possible. Far too often the horse becomes a neglected part of these life changing experiences, and that was the reason we created our organization in the first place...to ensure that the delivery of equine assisted experiences never caused harm or inflicted pain on the equine who gives so selflessly.

We will be delivering the last of our current Center services throughout the month of September, and we will complete the change of mission beginning November 1st. At that time, instead of session based services, we will be offering a single session each year in the fall, which will serve as a pilot program for the research and testing we will complete throughout the year on our host farm. The results will be analyzed, and programming will be created from the pilot programming which will be offered to established 501c3 equine assisted programs as both curriculum, and training opportunities. Our goal is to make the industry we love better than it has ever been, with programming that is sensitive to the needs of human and equine, and has scientific research behind it to make it more widely accepted by the public, insurance providers, and the scientific community. This change will mean that our organization will no longer be fundraising as we used to, and because of that, this will be our final outreach on GlobalGiving.org.

We are so grateful to be a small organization filled with passionate volunteers who are commited to this new direction. They too understand that the horses need to be protected, and wish to help make this industry better for all involved. We are also so grateful for all of you, for your support and caring here on GlobalGiving.org since November of 2011. It will seem strange to no longer share our adventures and updates, but we are so thankful that we had the chance to be part of all this and the tools and resources that Globalgiving.org makes available to organizations like ours. There are so many incredible projects here, and you can't help but incredibly blessed to part of a community that does so many life and world changing things.

To you all...a heartfelt THANK YOU. From all of us at The Center.

Warmly and gratefully,
Colleen Cheechalk

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Feb 22, 2016
Spring greetings from the Center!

By Colleen Cheechalk | Project Leader

Greetings from the Center!

We had our first hint of spring today, and I never thought I would say this...but I am grateful for mud, because with mud comes warm, and with warm... comes the start of a new season of horses helping humans!

We have made many changes over the past year, with most of our resources being shifted to our Veterans program. But that left us with little programming for youth, and they need the support so desperately.

Because you are supporters of our work, I am going to let you in our big announcement before we release it as a project here on GlobalGiving.org. It's a very important one, and it will serve all of our clients, and the horses.

Ready to hear what it is?

We will be hosting a program for youth and teens this summer that provides not only horse education, but an immersion into hands on, real life STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education. The students, ages 13-18 will be designing, and building a series of three accessible horse barns for our team. Each stand alone structure will house two of our horses. The buildings will provide the accessibility needed to give our clients the independence they need to advance their horse-keeping skills. This is of vital importance not only for the children we serve, but for our Veterans.

We will have a substantial amount of fundraising to do for this project, but I know we can do it! We hope that you will help us reach our goal by sharing our news and updates, and if you are local, lend a hand to help the kids build this amazing project.

I will be releasing the official page for the project in the days to come, and I will update you again in a month or two about as well.

Thank you for your support of our programs, we cannot do our work without you, and we appreciate your generous help more than you know!

HAPPY SPRING!

Colleen Cheechalk

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Nov 24, 2015
Greetings from the Center!

By Colleen Cheechalk | Executive Director

Greetings to all!

I apologize for the delay in getting this overdue project report to you. Our organization has gone through some difficult, and some wonderful changes in the last half of 2015. As the leader of this organization, the progress, impacts, and reporting are my responsibility, and I have been battling a life threatening and changing health issue since late July. It seemed insurmountable to tackle all the tasks I am responsible for, thankfully we have an incredible team of volunteers, and I was able to gradually catch up.

The experience was eye opening to say the least. And while we were able to provide the services we had raise funds for, we quickly began to see where our strengths, weaknesses and passions were within our organization. Because of my illness, we raised a limited amount toward our budget this year, which forced us to be creative, and "think outside the box."

Times like these are generally not thought of as positive, yet, as a team we feel more committed than ever to gathering ourselves up, and getting back in the saddle! Few people have the opportunity to become clients of their own programs, but during my recovery I spent countless hours just sitting with our therapy horses. It's all I could do. I watched others care for them, I watched them do their work as a bystander. And when I was stronger, I developed my own plan for recovery. It worked, and today I feel stronger than I have in years...thanks to our incredible team of therapy horses.

Our 2015 season is now over. When our clients begin sessions in April of 2016, we will be ready! Ready to serve the community to the best of our ability. We will be launching our new projects in the days to come, and we hope that you will be as excited about them as we are. As always, we have put together unique and challenging sessions for clients of all ages and needs, and we believe that our new season long, mentored approach will be well received and provide maximum benefit to our clients and community.

We want to thank you for your support to our programs, and we hope that you will continue with us on this journey as we build and expand on our traditional programs. We are excited for the 2016 season, and the seasons to come. And we are so grateful to have you along with us!

Sincerely,
Colleen Cheechalk
Founder and President

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