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Spring News from
Riding To The Top
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We are so excited to welcome Spring! While this time of year is not the prettiest time at the farm (see Manure Madness below), there are signs of greener days to come all around us with budding trees, greening grass, lessons in the outdoor and of course the wonderful snow drops that can be found by Paddock 2!
I wanted to give a quick re-cap of 2021 in this newsletter as we recently finished compiling all of our data from last year. Despite the ongoing challenges that we faced due to COVID, we had a very successful year including:
- Fully re-opening in July of 2021, including Summer Camps and starting the NIH funded research study;
- 2,298 client visits at the farm and five off site field trips to area schools reaching an additional 171 students;
- 45 participants moved off of our Waiting list;
- 8,265+ hours of service provided by 83 volunteers; 25 new volunteers trained; and
- 4 horses joined our herd--Aradis, Max, Harbor and Smokey!
Lastly, an update on our entrances and masking...The main entrance is now open! There is a sign-in in the front lobby as well as in the "tack room" entrance. Please sign in/out in one of these locations! For the rest of April, we will have staff, volunteers and clients continue to wear masks when in close proximity during lessons and in office areas. Outdoors, people are welcome to remove their masks. We do ask that everyone continue to have a mask available. Above all, we wish to remain free of judgement and to be kind to all--each individual at the farm has different thresholds and risk factors and we want to honor this. Everyone has done an amazing job of keeping RTT a healthy place--and for this we are incredibly thankful. We will be updating things again in early May.
Happy Spring all!!
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April is Volunteer Appreciation Month! |
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RTT's volunteers are a force to be reckoned with! Whether it's helping in lessons, in the barn, in the office or with special events--you are the HEART of RTT. Thank you for making RTT the warm, welcoming and caring place that it is. Winston Churchill said, "You make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give"--our lives are all richer thanks to your gifts of time and talent. |
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Sign up for April 25 Volunteer Training!! |
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Annual Volunteer Trainings and Continuing Education
We will be holding the second Volunteer Training Annual Update on Monday, April 25th, from 5:30-8:00 p.m. ALL volunteers are asked to attend one of these trainings annually (no need to come to more than one as the same information is covered in each)! The purpose of these trainings is to review emergency procedures, and best practices as related to grooming and tacking, horse leading and side walking, and mounting and dismounting at RTT. The remaining dates for 2022 are:
- Monday, April 25th: 5:30-8:00 p.m.
- Tuesday, August 16th: 1:00-3:30 p.m.
- Saturday, November 16th 1:00-3:30 p.m.
Please look at the above dates and email Nick to let him know which training you plan on attending. In addition, we ask that annually, you update your Volunteer Registration form which can be found here.
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March was a month of transitions for staff at RTT. As we have gotten busier and are now fully reopened, we knew that we would need more hours in our front office, which had been covered by Office Manager, Lorena Coffin. Not only did Lorena manage the front office but she was also instrumental in running the first cohorts of the Barn Activity Group for the NIH Research study (pictured with Diamond)! Lorena, who rejoined our staff in June of 2020, had other commitments this spring and sadly finished up her time at RTT on March 25th.
We were fortunate to hire a great new Office Manager, Deb Duross, who was able to spend a week with Lorena before she left! Please stop by and say "hi" to Deb, who who will be at RTT Monday-Thursday! Deb comes to us with a wealth of experience and we know that she will be a wonderful addition to our core staff.
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April 1st (no April Fool's joke!) was the start of retirement for Susan Cole, RTT's long time Director of Development. Susan was a valued staff member of RTT for 11+ years and was instrumental in growing financial support from individuals, businesses, foundations and special events. In her years at RTT, she helped to raise over $4.5 million dollars, ensuring the fiscal health of RTT!
Our deepest thanks to Lorena and Susan for their time at RTT and a hearty welcome to Deb!
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RTT in the News!
We were delighted to see an article in the latest issue of PATH Intl's "Strides" magazine about the NIH funded research study that is being conducted at RTT and at another center Colorado. This study is looking at physiological changes in children with Autism in two groups--a therapeutic riding group and a barn activity (control) group. We are in the midst of our third group of participants here at RTT and have so enjoyed working with Maine Behavioral Health for this important study. Here is a link to the article, which describes the research in more detail.
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Camp Registrations are Open!
RTT's popular camps are back! Registration forms are available on our website and in the viewing room. We have just four weeks of camps plus one special week where we will be partnering with Camp Allsing. Sign up early to reserve your week(s)! Camps will be held M-Th 9 am to 1 pm. For more please click here.
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Fundraising Events for RTT! |
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June Ride-A-Thon!
We are so pleased to announce that the Ride-A-Thon fundraiser for RTT is back in person this year and will be held on Saturday, June 11th, with a rain date of Saturday, June 25th! You can sign up for the Ride-A-Thon in the hallway by the arena--there are handouts available for setting up a fundraising page and/or pledge sheets. This event raises important fund for the clients, horses and programs at RTT and for participants who raise $1,000 or more, you will receive a $500 credit towards lessons or a clinic offering. Our goal is to raise $10,000 with this event!
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The Triple B is Back!!
Save the date! The Triple B is RTT's most important fundraising event of the year and we haven't been able to hold it in-person since 2019! We are delighted to announce that we will be back in-person on Saturday, October 22nd! We are currently looking for sponsors, table hosts and anyone with creative ideas--contact us if you'd like to be more involved. More information will be coming soon!
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Manure Madness--and why it's important to keep our paddocks clean! |
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So March Madness might have come to a close, but Manure Madness is an ongoing event here at RTT! Spring is a great time to get some exercise helping to join the fun at RTT as we work to clear all the paddocks from the winter's detritus! Contact Nick if you are interested in joining this fun and rewarding "exercise" group!
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In this video, Julia Hamilton, our Equine Care Coordinator explains the importance of keeping our paddocks clean, while Equine Manager, Kristin Meaney demonstrates proper technique! While we may make light of this, it is incredibly important for our horses' health (reduced sources of infection, reduced fly populations and better footing for horses and humans)! In addition to picking paddocks, we utilize fly predators, which are tiny wasps that eat fly eggs, which in turn keeps our fly populations lower! |
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April is Autism Awareness Month
In honor of Autism Awareness Month below are some links to interesting articles by and in support of people with autism!
This was recently posted by the Autism Society of Maine: #CelebrateDifferences. Because no matter who you are, you are the only you there is. Celebrate with us and check out this link: ASM Autism Acceptance Resource Page.
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How You Can Help!
Community Bags: Riding to the Top Therapeutic Riding Center will receive a $1 donation from each purchase of the $2.50 reusable Community Bag at the Hannaford store located at 797 Roosevelt Trail, Windham for the month of April!
2 ways to "CLYNK" and raise $ for RTT: Now you can recycle your returnable bottles and help RTT by using CLYNK bags with RTT’s code/stickers (available at the RTT office to pick up), and/or you can to redirect funds from your own CLYNK balances to RTT. Here's a quick tutorial https://youtu.be/g5KZbBUKY4A.
Walgreen Rewards to benefit RTT from March to May: Shop at Walgreens, sign up for their Rewards program and during March through May you can transfer your rewards to RTT! This program is available through the Walgreens mobile app and online at Walgreens.com. Learn more by clicking here!
Amazon Smile: Choose RTT as your charity of choice on Amazon Smile, while you're shopping, pick out a few items on RTT's Wish List at smile.amazon.com.
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