Welcome Back Jessie Baker!
Our beloved students at Jessie Baker School have returned to begin a new school year and we are so excited to have the opportunity to work with them again. After taking the last week of August to update our records, we will be beginning our mounted program on September 7th. If you have worked with these students before you know how many volunteers it takes to support this particular program, in which we attempt to put up to 15 students on horseback in the space of an hour. Our success in that goal is entirely dependent upon the amount of volunteer support we have available! This year we will be adding Stella the Equicizer into the mix and hope to have volunteer-taught Equicizer lessons running concurrently with mounted lessons, so if you are available during the day, we need your help from September to March. Classes run on a set schedule, from 9:45 – 10:45, 11:00 – 12:00 and 1:15 – 2:15 every day except Mondays when there is no 9:45 class. Leaders: please remember we need you here half an hour before lessons. If you have any extra availability, we will need extra help the first two weeks of September until the CSUS student volunteers arrive.
Volunteer Parking
If you have been in the arena in the past two weeks you will have noticed the return of extreme congestion in the CSD parking lot and Jessie Baker’s parking lot. Now is a good time to re-familiarize yourself with the location of our Volunteer Parking Lot, so I have attached a map for you to review . The Jessie Baker students will be using our grounds for various physical education activities and coming and going for their horseback riding lessons, and in order to keep them safe we would like to keep all non-staff cars outside our gates during school hours. Jessie Baker’s faculty lot and overflow lot are quite limited and we have committed to keep them reserved for their use, so please remember to park in our gravel volunteer parking lot. We promise the gate from the parking lot will be open – and if we happen to forget to open it, let us know!
TrailFest 2010: Taste of the Central Valley September 11th
On Saturday, September 11th you have a unique opportunity to support our program while enjoying locally produced eats and drinks. Central Valley Rails to Trails Foundation is hosting a local wine, beer and food tasting with live music and more at a beautiful location. Tickets are only $35 in advance or $40 at the door and we have them for sale in the Project R.I.D.E. office. This event benefits our program as well as the Firefighter’s Burn Institute, another worthy nonprofit. It is located at Hunter Stallion Station in Wilton and activities include a fine art show, a live auction and a “guess the weight of the Andalusian stallion” contest. We also need a few volunteers to support the event, with setup, cleanup, food serving and ambassador shifts available.
New Session Begins September 13th
Evening lessons have changed to Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and Michelle will be beginning a new six-week session on September 13th. Unlike the current session, this one will be completely full and we will need plenty of help during the after-school and after work hours. Shifts are available starting at 2:30 and going until 7:15, and full-day Saturdays will also return. Sign up now! Your September calendar is attached.
Giant Pumpkin Festival October 2nd & 3rd
Join us at this fun Elk Grove fall tradition. Highlights include a scarecrow contest and the Giant Pumpkin Regatta. We will be selling drinks and giving away balloons at the Safeway booth. Please see the signup sheet in the barn for volunteers for the Giant Pumpkin Festival booth. This is a really fun and easy opportunity for high school students who need more community service hours.
First-Ever Jessie Baker Prom October 17th
Volunteer Beauticians Needed!
How would you like the opportunity to be a part of the most magical day of someone’s life? Well, here it is. Most of us have had the opportunity to enjoy an evening out on the town showing off our best finery at least once in our lives, but the teens who attend Jessie Baker have never had a prom of their own … until now. On Sunday, October 17th they will be putting on all their sparkle and glitter to attend a prom at the Hyatt Regency Ballroom (donated for the evening), and they need your help to look and feel their best. We need volunteer hairstylists, manicurists and estheticians to help primp and prepare our students for their very special evening. Volunteers will be needed in the early afternoon at Jessie Baker School, and you will need to bring all your own supplies. Donations of beauty supplies, formalwear, and accessories are still being accepted, and whatever is not used this year will go into a resource closet so that they can make the prom a yearly tradition. Chaperones are also needed at the event.
Coming Soon, Save the Dates:
Spaghetti Feed November 6th; Crab Feed January 15th
Our two most popular fundraising events are quickly approaching: our Carol Meador Memorial Spaghetti Feed on Saturday November 6th, 2010 and our 13th annual Crab and Shrimp Feed on Saturday January 15th 2011. Mark those dates on your calendar – if you’re not planning to volunteer you should plan to buy a ticket to both these events. The Spaghetti Feed is affordable, fun and family-friendly with a kids-only raffle (nearly everybody wins) and the best spaghetti you’ve ever tasted; our Crab and Shrimp feed is legendary in scale and unforgettable in quality. These events cover our program’s administrative costs so that we can keep our lesson fees low and allow more families to receive the benefits of horseback riding without worrying about finances. We can’t do it without your support, so get involved with our fundraising committee, donate a raffle prize, buy a ticket or volunteer at the event.
Thank you for all you do. Every day I see the results of your selfless effort and it brings tears to my eyes to know the depth of your generosity and to see its effects on people in need in our community.
Your friend in service,
~m
