I was thrilled to find out today that I was STAR’s Spotlight Volunteer this month. Here is the excerpt from their newsletter…
Bridles & Blue Jeans
April 26, 2009 By 1 Comment
For the past several weeks, I have worked almost non-stop on a fund raiser promo video for STAR. STAR (Shanghai-La Therapeutic Academy of Riding) holds a very special place in my heart. Four years ago, after seeing the impact that Dolphin Assisted Therapy had on Katie, Leeann and I were looking for a program to get Katie into that would help her on a more consistent basis. Katie has a long list of special needs, both medical and emotional. We wanted to get her in a program that would build her confidence and her self-esteem and hopefully provide an extracurricular activity.
When we heard about the STAR program, we knew we had to get her in as soon as possible. The only problem was there was a waiting list (there still is a list of 113 waiting to get in). I think we called the STAR office about once or twice a month, we wrote letters to the Board of Directors and to the different staff members to see about getting Katie in. It paid off and there was finally a opening that fit Katie and we were able to get her started with the winter session of 2006.
Katie instantly fell in love with the program. We had never really seen her “look forward” to anything the way she looked forward to her weekly sessions at STAR. She’s worked with Cocoa, Maria, Zipper and RB and she’s fallen in love with all of them.
I had volunteered a few times to help out with volunteer training videos or anything else they needed. Well, three weeks ago, I was asked to put together the promo video for STAR’s Bridels & Blue Jeans. This is their annual fundraiser. I was honored to be asked to produce this video and it has been a true labor of love for the past two weeks. I have worked on this video everyday, every spare minute I could find. I was worried about how it would play to a large group of people.
This video needed to tell the stories of the riders, the parents and the staff at STAR. The story of how STAR had come to exist had been told for many years at this fundraising event. The amazing thing about this video is, it never felt like “work”. The video mostly put itself together, I just put the pieces in place and the video did the rest all by itself.
It was a great success. I don’t take the credit… but it was an amazing experience to help tell the story.
Note: The little girl with the sign “I take meds every day to stay alive” is our Katie. Also, the photo of the little girl with pigtails pulling up on the reins in her too!
Shangri-La Therapeutic Academy of Riding
March 3, 2009 By 1 Comment
Shangri-La Therapeutic Academy of Riding (STAR) holds a very important place in my heart. STAR provide horse riding therapy to kids and adults with special needs. The facility depends on a full time staff of professionals and an army of volunteers to provide a warm and friendly environment for all those who participate. The riders participate one time per week for each session. Spring and Fall sessions last for ten weeks. Summer is an eight week session and Winter is a six week session. There is a maximum of four riders in each group lesson. The one hour lessons are divided into two sections: 30 minutes of ground work which includes grooming, tacking, and mounting and 30 minutes of mounted work which includes exercises, riding skills, and games/activities. Grooming and tacking (putting the saddle and equipment on) address the following developmental areas: fine and gross motor skills, spatial awareness, vocabulary, motor planning, sequencing, memory, endurance, attention span, hand/eye coordination, bilateral involvement, balance, crossing midline and muscle strengthening.
Some of the benefits of the therapy include balance, coordination and muscle tone improve through exercises done on horseback. Psychological benefits include increased independence, motivation and self-control. Vocabulary development and sequential learning contribute to cognitive gains, and self-esteem soars as the riders learn to control their horse. The recreational aspect of STAR’s program proves invaluable for these special persons who normally cannot participate in conventional
sports.
STAR has been providing riding lessons and therapy to our KT for the past couple of years now and I can tell you that the results are amazing. Her balance and coordination have improved dramatically. KT’s gym teacher has even noticed how much better she is doing in running, throwing and other activities.
I have been trying for some time now to find a way to give something back to STAR for all the great work they have done, not only for us, but for the community as well. Today, I found a way to help; a couple of weeks ago the volunteer coordinator contacted me and asked if I could help them make some changes to a training video for their volunteers. I was more than glad to help. They gave me a copy of the video they had done and asked me to look it over and then we would meet about the changes. After watching the video, I noticed a few things that really needed to be corrected. After a meeting with the volunteer coordinator and the executive director it was decided to just completely re-shoot the video.
I have also been asked to provide a video testimonial DVD for their annual fund raiser, “Bridles & Blue Jeans”. This is going to be a short video where some of the riders and their families talk about what STAR has meant to them. I am really looking forward to working on this video. I love doing weddings and other special events, but to be able to provide a very special video for families with children and family members who have challenges that many of us will never understand. I believe that we all have the ability to give back, or as they say now, to pay it forward.