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JoyRide Journal
December 2010
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Peace
and Joy at Christmas and throughout the new year to you all from
everyone at JoyRide!
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Reflections of a Joyful Year...from the President
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As we come to the end of our first full year of operation
at JoyRide Center, I want to break from the hustle and bustle of the
season to thank the many folks who have helped us along the way.
God's hand has been with us as the dreams of many have come to fruition
at JoyRide in a very short period of time.
From
a pilot program of 12 clients in the fall of 2009, we have grown to
currently working with 68 incredible clients weekly. Miracles
happen in our arenas every week - for staff members, volunteers and
clients. There is no better feeling than seeing the smiles on the
many faces at JoyRide, and the visible quality of life improvements are
priceless.
Our
beautiful facility has expanded with many improvements, including the
build-out of the offices, therapy room, kitchen and bathrooms, as well
as pasture fencing, mounting ramp, arena lights, fans & misting
system, run-in sheds for our horses, sensory course, mobile home and
our recently completed deck. These improvements were made
possible by the generous donations of
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Setting up for
Parkway Chevrolet Texas Two-Step which...Thank You Parkway
Chevrolet!...raised over $28,000 for JoyRide!
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time
and materials from many folks, and they all add tremendous benefit to
the functionality of our program.
None
of this would have been possible without the support of so many loyal
friends. So, from everyone at JoyRide Center - the staff, board,
volunteers, clients and horses - thank you so much to all of you who
have contributed to our development! We are excited about
continuing our mission in 2011, and we invite all of you to come out
and experience the joy firsthand!
Best
of the season,
Roger Wagner
President, Board of Directors
JoyRide Center, Inc.
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Dates to Remember
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1/4, Tues -
New Volunteer Training, 9:30-11:30
1/14,
Fri - Spring semester begins
2/18-20 -
Top Hands Show at Reliant Arena
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See more pics of the latest events!
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Counting
our Blessings
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'Tis the season to count our blessings at JoyRide.
We have said from the beginning that "God got us here and God will
keep us going" and He has. We have felt His guidance all
along our way and it is a joy to see how many people He has inspired to
become part of JoyRide. Our beautiful center has grown and
attracted a community of loving and generous people. It feels
like family here every day. So many people helped in numerous
ways to create our beautiful facility - it is functional, efficient,
welcoming and home-like. One of the parents said that it feels so
good to just be here, she never wants to leave. We love it too,
not only because of the beauty of the place, but because of the
wonderful and warm-hearted people who are the JoyRide community.
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Trinket goes to school.
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JoyRide has offered our staff some unique opportunities to
expand their services. JRC is able to offer extended time for our
riders to spend learning and working with their horses. Our
therapy clients get clinical and riding therapy. We have some
students from MISD
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MISD Vocational Ed
student learning about horses
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doing vocational training at our center. Our program at
Nichols Sawmill Elementary brings Trinket "the little wonder
horse" into the classroom so the students can learn and benefit
from her loving attention. Mrs. Barbara brought Monarch
butterflies into our center so we could watch that miracle daily along
with building a butterfly garden for the spring. Melissa Flowers
has been doing an internship as an assistant instructor and she has
been a great role model for volunteers and clients. We have
several clients who also became volunteers and so our program grows
with a new generation of helpers.
The JoyRide Center is a haven of achievement, inspiration
and challenge -a place where everyone can develop their skills, try
some new things and share in our environment of success. We so
appreciate the many blessings we have received this year and we want to
continue to share these blessings with you.
Love,
Karen A. and Karen G.
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New Volunteer Training
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Spread the word! With our growth in 2010, we will be
needing more volunteers, so tell your friends and family to join us on Tuesday, January 4, 2011 from 9:30-11:30
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Amanda &
Mrs. Clause, aka Annie
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am for our training
class.
We will also be having our first Horse
Handler training on the 4th. If you have
been volunteering for at least 1 semester and have
extensive previous experience with horses, contact Penny
for details.
If you can't
commit to a particular day/time but would like to be added to our
substitute list, let us know. If you can't make it on the 4th, we
can do a mini-training if you are available at times when we still need
help.
Contact Penny to
RSVP to attend training on the 4th or arrange a training session or
call the office at 281-356-5900.
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Quick Updates
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Our first Rider Cup Golf Tournament was a huge
success, with a full field of golfers raising over
$39,000. Save the date for next year- Mon. Oct. 11, 2011 again
at High Meadow Ranch Golf Club.
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Allison helping plant
bulbs on the work day.
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Many of the JoyRide family worked hard on the Oct. 16
workday to paint, build, etc. to make JoyRide a better place.
Thanks to all of you! We are so proud of our facility!
Thank you to everyone who came out to Buffalo Wild Wings
in Oct. You earned $100 for JoyRide just by eating dinner
(which you were going to do anyway,right?).
Luke, the Simulator Horse, was a most unique
experience! Thank you, Mary Kay Hasseman for setting it all
up. Whether you rode him or not, it was a quite a sight to see.
The Magnolia Christmas Parade was a blast! Thank you
to everyone who participated and used your best parade wave!
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Magnolia Christmas
Parade
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The latest addition to the facility is a beautiful new
entrance deck and picnic table with the supplies donated by Home Depot
and the labor donated by Bill Weber and Partners in Renovation, in
addition to lots of muscle, sweat and aching backs put in by Roger
Wagner, Michael Kvello and Ralph Flowers.
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Our beautiful new
entrance deck!
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