Every person at the center brings a unique set of talents. Who knew some of those included jump starting a dead battery!

Perhaps the best thing that has happened to non-profits in the East Bay is Corporate Caring Week.  Sponsored by the Volunteer Center of the East Bay, in partner with Chevron, this event provides over 2,400 volunteers and over 700 volunteer hours to over 100 east bay non-profits.  Xenophon is fortunate to be one of those non-profits.  Thanks to a wonderful partnership with Chevron, we have a group come out each September to help us with needed projects.  Their visit was very timely this year, as they arrived on September 22nd, just 4 days before our big horse show.  A dedicated team of 14 volunteers installed a new feature on the sensory trail, painted our entire office building, touched up paint on the tack shed, stained the deck, weeded the planter beds, and most importantly, replaced all the wood on the lower mounting ramp, which had begun to rot.  They worked tirelessly, getting all these projects done in under 4 hours, proving yet again that many hands make short work.  A huge thank you goes to out to the Chevron volunteers who came to work.

The nature of a working ranch is that there is always work to be done.  Xenophon is no exception and keeping the center in tip top shape requires many hours of labor.  On Saturday, June 20, 2015, over 25 volunteers braved a very warm day to provide those necessary hours.  There was no weed on the sensory trail that was safe that day, as the volunteers manned shovels and weed whackers and went to work.  Our own board president, Mark Caron, was quite the sight, hacking away with his machete.  The noodle forest was repaired, the chains and chimes fixed, the bird cages lowered, and more bark added to the experiential pathway.  Those without the killer instinct for weeds attacked the fences with an armor of fresh white paint.  Our dependable office cleaner, Silvia Coburn, showed up with rags and spray in hand, and the dust was no match for her.  Not a nook or cranny was left untouched.  A huge thank you goes out to all who came to work that day, including the National Charity League mothers, dads and daughters who came and participated.

For those of you who are annual gala attendees, you are familiar with the Jean Schaffner Spirit Award. This award was set up in memory of Jean Schaffner, the mother of one of our long-time volunteers and supports, Kate Schaffner. The award is designed to honor outstanding volunteer service at Xenophon and is presented each year at our annual gala. We have over 100 volunteers who come through the center each week, many of whom have been with us for 10 years or more. You can imagine how difficult it is to narrow down the choice to 1 person. There are so many who are deserving of this award. So, because it is so difficult to choose one, we chose two.

Jim and Julie Taylor, a husband and wife team, have been with Xenophon almost since its beginning, which is an amazing amount of history. Julie Taylor started as a sidewalker but as with most volunteers at the center, her duties did not stop there. Being always willing to cheerfully step in and assist with any job that needed to be done, you could often find her coordinating volunteers, cleaning tack, restocking the emergency medical kits, or working on whatever project was on the day’s agenda. Says her peers, “She approaches each and every task with a positive attitude and enthusiasm. She has shared this enthusiasm with others, bringing many new volunteers into the fold and happily providing guidance to those less experienced than herself”. Despite facing many of her own physical challenges, she has continued to come to the center nearly every single week, taking on small and large tasks, demonstrating the value in volunteers that goes far beyond sidewalking.

Julie’s husband, Jim, has made himself invaluable at the center. You can imagine the challenges of a facility requiring a significant amount of maintenance and repairs that is primarily populated by females. Not that we horse women aren’t handy, but there is limit to our tool knowledge. On any given day this, Jim can by found stopping by on his way home from work just to check in with us on what might need fixing: be it fences, automatic waterers, adding a new light fixture, replacing flat tires on our numerous wheeled contraptions, problem solving on our compost bins, replacing broken forks on the pitch forks, jump starting drained batteries on the tractor, dragging the arena, realigning barn doors, adjusting footing on our sensory trail, oh, and did we mention he fixes flat tires? This is just a small list of the many, many problems Jim helps with at the center, much to the relief of the staff. We have yet to find a problem he cannot resolve for us.

We are profoundly appreciative of both Jim and Julie for their dedication and generosity towards Xenophon. We hope they continue with us for many, many years to come.

Our Young Adult pilot program, “Bridle Paths to Success”, began again on March 5, 2015. The center welcomed six new wonderful young adults from RES Success (Redefined Educational Learning). These young people come to the center once a week. Under the careful tutelage of Heidi Koch, one of Xenophon’s instructors, their six week course is designed to teach horse husbandry, ranch management and daily life skills. Their day consists of educational courses surrounding the physiology, care and handling of Xenophon’s therapy horses, as well as various ranch chores. But it is not all work and no play. Heidi’s creative teaching methods has the group doing art projects and learning body parts by comparing to their own to their equine partner by actually painting the name of corresponding body part on the horse. Grooming lessons are designed to culminate in a halter show class at the end of the session. Each day is chock full of wonderful happenings and great information.

Come on 2015! We are gearing up for our 2015 season and are ready to get started! We are anxious to welcome back our returning students and to welcome some new riders as well. We have a full year planned, continuing on with our 10 sections of Therapeutic Riding and our 3 sections of Hippotherapy. We have our annual gala on March 14, 2015, our student horse show to look forward to and a summer camp in the works. Our horses are back in training after a long and much deserved rest, but obviously missed all the attention that comes with lesson days. All of the staff have missed the families, children, and volunteers that make Xenophon such a magical place.

Volunteers, don’t forget to sign up online for your time slots.

Parents, don’t forget to get your paperwork back to us and please check out the calendar for the year.

We look forward to seeing each and every one of you when we start up on February 17, 2015!