Grateful for Teen Volunteers

Christine helping out in the barn

There are many elements of serving as the Volunteer Coordinator at High Hopes Therapeutic Riding that I love.  Each day, I get to be witness to volunteers giving their time, energy, and effort to others.  Along with Jeanna Pellino, Volunteer Manager, I get to be part of making the phone calls and setting the schedule and providing the training that make that happen.  I know that the staff at High Hopes feels grateful for each and every minute that volunteers spend driving to the facility, working here, and helping with special events.  Not to mention the gratitude that many participants frequently express towards those volunteers who make it possible for them to ride, drive, and just be with horses each week. 

Today I want to give a special nod to the teen volunteers who come to High Hopes each week and give their time and energy.  Last Saturday, I walked through the barn a few times and just took note of the industry happening there.  Volunteers, most of them teenagers, were grooming horses, cleaning stalls, tossing hay, helping to prepare horses for class, and sweeping.  All with diligence and strict adherence to the safety rules, NARHA standards, and High Hopes policies they've been asked to follow.  There are many smiles, lots of laughing and hard work, and an absence of any kind of discipline problems or negative behaviors.  As a person who has worked with teens and young adults in various contexts over the past ten years, I am well aware of how special the young volunteers at High Hopes are, and how lucky we are to have them.

Sometimes, there's also an interesting dynamic that sometimes takes place between riders and their teenage sidewalkers.  At times, teen volunteers can motivate youth participants in a different way than adult volunteers can - call it positive peer pressure! 

No one who comes to visit High Hopes on a Saturday could have any doubt that the future of our society is in great, compassionate, hard-working, generous hands.  These teens prove that each and every week.



Will assisting a rider on the Sensory Trail



I also want to say thank you to the parents who provide transportation, teach their teens about honoring weekly commitments, and help set up realistic schedules and goals.  During an economic time when it is very difficult for teens to find part-time employment (one article claims that at 26% teen unemployment was at an all-time high this past summer and that 4 million less teens were working than would have been at the same time in the year 2000), volunteering is an excellent way for teens to learn work ethic, commitment, and good people skills.  While High Hopes most definitely benefits from our teenage volunteers' time and effort, we hope that they are also aware of the way that their work can influence them as people. 

Finally, I want to express gratitude to High Hopes as an organization, other staff members, Team Captains and seasoned adult volunteers who help provide such a positive environment for teens to learn and grow in their volunteer roles.  When I see our teens hard at work, it really brings home to me the potential for experiential and service-based learning to help teens grow as people and develop a sense of self and responsibility, not to mention tolerance for diversity and a broader sense of humanity.  The environment at High Hopes - structured but creative, authentic and nurturing - definitely fosters learning and makes this a positive place for teens to be and serve.

So... to all our volunteers, and especially our teens, thank you, thank you, thank you.  We hope you and your families and friends and animals enjoyed a peaceful and happy Thanksgiving!  (And remember, classes resume on Monday...)

~Karen Pfeil
Volunteer Coordinator/ Instructor