Now That’s Horse Power
Starting this week, life gets a whole lot busier for horse-crazy volunteers across the Triangle, myself included. Feb. 7 kicks off the spring semester at Helping Horse Therapeutic Riding Program, which has been providing riding lessons to individuals with disabilities for over 20 years. With 10 lessons a week, Helping Horse averages over 1,000 hours of riding instruction a year.
Why therapeutic riding? Therapeutic horseback riding (also known as hippotherapy) has proven physical, mental and psychological benefits for individuals with disabilities. It is a good outlet for exercise, providing a unique opportunity to build core strength. Additionally, learning to control a powerful horse is an enormous confidence builder. More »
Have Some Spare Time?
I was watching an old episode of The Secret Millionaire over the weekend. In each episode of this reality series, a multi-millionaire lives in a poverty-stricken community for a week pretending to be working on a documentary. At the end of the week, the true identity of the millionaire is revealed as he/she gives a total of $100,000 of his/her own monies to one or more of the worthy individuals the millionaire has met during that week.
There are hundreds of non-profit organizations all over the Raleigh area. You don’t need to go “undercover” to find them. And though most of us don’t have tens of thousands of dollars to give to worthy causes, we can give our time.
There are hundreds of organizations out there that could benefit from the time and effort of volunteers. For me, I choose to use my professional knowledge and experience to help organizations with their marketing and communications needs. Though I enjoy helping my clients achieve their goals and objectives, I find it truly rewarding to help some local non-profits with promoting their admirable efforts.
If you are not volunteering already, give it a try. I’d highly recommend it.
A very special haircut
During my time away from the agency, I volunteer with the Durham County, Special Olympics. Before this past season began, I made a deal with my soccer team. If they could go the entire season without arguing (too much) AND win a gold medal at the North Carolina Special Olympic State Games – they could shave my head.
You see, last year my team was set-up to win the gold, but their in-fighting cost them dearly. My strategy was to use this incentive when they began to argue. A quick reference to my long flowing locks would usually hush them up.
The state games were held November 7th & 8th. They did very well. Let’s just say, I now know the exact shape of my head. Every nook and every cranny!
Bravo to the Durham County Bulldogs. Champions of Division 3. They are a VERY Special Group of athletes. And their barber skills aren’t too shabby either.
