My Dearest Volunteers,
Happy Fall! I hope you will join us this month and next for some wonderful special events and of course happy students on horseback all day long.
Rockin’ Beef & Reef Bash September 25th
Join us this Saturday night for the Rotary Club of Elk Grove’s 5th annual Rockin’ Beef & Reef Bash. This incredible feast of steak and oysters at Lent Ranch benefits us as well as other worthy organizations. Tickets are $45 and limited to the first 500 guests.
Harvest Festival October 2nd and 3rd
Cowboys and giant pumpkins? What a combination! This year, Elk Grove’s harvest festival is themed Ropin’ and Rustlin’ Giant Pumpkins! Each year we provide volunteers for Safeway’s booth, where we sell sodas and give away balloons to children. Shifts are available all day Saturday and Sunday, the event is in Elk Grove park and this event is a perfect opportunity for high school volunteers who need community service hours.
Jessie Baker Prom Sunday October 17th
It’s the most anticipated night in a teenager’s life: the chance to dress up and go to a fancy dance with all your friends. You can help make this dream come true for our Jessie Baker teens, who have never had this opportunity before. We are still accepting volunteers to help with their special preparations, and donations of formalwear and accessories, especially for boys, are still being accepted. The prom is at the Hyatt Regency ballroom and a few chaperones are needed as well. Get involved. You won’t regret it!
Jessie Baker Events which Cancel Friday Morning Lessons
There are two more events associated with Jessie Baker School in October, and they do impact our lesson schedule this month. On Friday, October 22nd they will be holding their annual school-wide Read-a-thon, a literacy promotion event. It’s a daylong festival of reading and volunteers from many organizations will be coming in to read to the children in their classrooms, so we will be cancelling our morning lesson schedule and only operating the 1:15 to 2:15 lesson that day. On Friday the 29th the students will come to school in costume and parade through our barn at about lunchtime. You are more than welcome to come and help us hand out candy and treats that morning, but the only lesson that day will be the 1:15 to 2:15 lesson.
Horse Show October 30 – No Evening Lessons the week of October 25th!
The weather’s getting cooler, there are costumes in the stores … it must be time for the Project RIDE horse show! Spookin’ Spirits on the Prowl, our third annual extra-special horse show featuring the talents of our riders and lots of special activities. Shifts run from 8am to 3pm for Leaders and Sidewalkers, and there is even a special Horse Pampering Party (qualified Leaders only please) the night before. Sign up now – we need a LOT of help! We will have 31 students riding with us that day so it will be a very exciting and busy day. There will be no evening lessons scheduled that week to prepare for the show. CSUS Biology students, this is the one and only special event you are allowed to get class credit for!
Save the Date – Spaghetti Feed November 6th
This is one of our staff’s favorite events because it is the only one that brings a lot of children into our barn. The 5th annual Carol Meador Memorial Spaghetti Feed, a feast of pasta and more, will be on Saturday, November 6th. Tickets are inexpensive – only $10 for adults, $3 for kids and $25 for a family of two adults and two kids. We won’t need much volunteer support that evening, but we’d love to have your help setting up the Friday before and cleaning up the Sunday morning after. We’d also love to have you with us as a guest that evening. We have the very best spaghetti in town, and one of the evening’s highlights is our HUGE children’s raffle, in which every child walks out of the barn with at least one prize. Come down, bring your kids or your neighbor’s kids and have a really fun evening with us!
A little Inspiration
Did you know we are now up to over 430 active student riders? What a far cry from our beginnings, with one horse and three students. We wouldn’t have made it this far without the support of this community and the generous spirit of volunteers like you. Go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back today. YOU make the magic happen!
Your friend in service,
~m
