As you may have noticed, it’s a pretty special week, here in the world of MeloTel. As we approach our Founder and CEO, John Meloche’s 40th birthday this Sunday, we’re working together to try to bring awareness to a fantastic cause. As our last two blogs have highlighted, John is raising money to donate to WETRA as part of his birthday with. By setting up a fundraiser on Facebook, he has already raised nearly $500 of his $1000 goal so far.
John is willing to match each and every donation.
As mentioned in our last blog, he’ll match each dollar for dollar, up to $1000. John’s Birthday Fundraiser is not the first of its kind. Last year, before John turned 39, he raised more than $1000 for Family and Children’s Services Niagara. It’s an organization that is very near and dear to his heart as he was able to benefit from their services as a youngster.
This year, John’s focus in on supporting the Essex, Ontario-based organization that provides therapy horses used to assist those with physical, mental and emotional challenges. We’ve detailed the many benefits of therapy horses in our last two blogs. In today’s blog, we’d like to bring your attention to a short documentary presented by CBC’s Land and Sea Network about WETRA and its horses. It’s entitled “Therapeutic Riding”.
“Horses have long been known for their calming influence,” states host, Tom Murphy, “And for people with mental and physical challenges, the benefits of riding a horse can be life changing.”
Samm Manherz is a Client Coordinator and Instructor at WETRA.
In “Therapeutic Riding”, she speaks of the various benefits the organization’s therapy horses provide the people of the Windsor-Essex area.
“I think it benefits the local community because it just gives everybody a chance to get involved in something and they feel like they have a place,” Samm says, “We apply a program to many different kinds of people…We have mental health, we have physical disabilities, cognitive disabilities and it just lets them stay physically active and have something to look forward to every week.”
Angelina Boshin is also featured in the doc.
This young lady has first-hand experience with therapy horses and considers WETRA a home away from home. She has been riding their horses since she was a little girl. “I think I look forward to seeing everyone at WETRA. I think they all do a great job,” she says, “I’m glad that they’re all accepting and nice and they never really talk about the disabilities there. It just kind of seems like they don’t see that in you, they see who you are.”
Angelina goes on to discuss the family atmosphere that is created by the WETRA team. The individuals who work for the organization are so much more than employees. They essentially become family members with the people who visit regularly.
“I don’t think I can really remember anything before WETRA,” Angelina states, “It always seems like it was always just a part of me and there’s so many people there that I feel so familiar with. It just feels like I’ve known that place…for the longest time.”
Watch “Therapeutic Riding” HERE and donate to John’s Birthday Fundraiser HERE!
