This is just a quick summary of how the Kent County chapter came to be.
Beginnings...
For twenty years, people have been coming to the farm in all seasons to groom a horse, feed a horse, take in the agrarian space and breathe. The farm has been powerful medicine for many.
Basketball Basics and No More Sidelines
I first learned about No More Sidelines when my kids were involved in a basketball program, that regularly opened their gym to the organization, matching players from local schools with NMS kids. It was edifying and exhilarating to see competition, skill development, pizza and fellowship, but most of all joy and accomplishment on every face. Seriously, the giggles and laughter were contagious!
No More Sidelines Gala Fundraiser
I then attended a No More Sidelines (NMS) Gala Fundraiser and met Cyndi Blair, her daughter Alivia, Board Members, and many many community leaders on the lakeshore who came out to celebrate and donate. We set a date for lakeshore families to come to the farm to see if I could help extend the reach and mission of such an incredible organization into Kent County.
I invited friends from all parts of my life--4-H families, Friesian horse folks, church friends, hay helpers--to be volunteers and show families the animals, making sure no one got hurt. I was so worried about safety, since our beloved furry friends have hooves, teeth, and claws. But what happened that day was not dangerous, it was profoundly healing.
All Sorts of "Special Needs"
My volunteers had their own special needs: a dear friend whose husband was struggling with severe depression, the little girl from church whose baby brother did not come home from the NICU that summer but went to heaven instead, and the member of the 4-H club whose mother was killed riding her bike just weeks before. Basically, everyone there had an ache in need of soothing, and somehow being together on the farm, interacting with animals, talking and laughing, sharing our less-than-perfect lives was powerful medicine we didn't even know we needed.
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