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Important Dates
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Captain / CiT Meeting
November 8
November 9
Horse Leader Level I Training
November 19
Giddy Up and Give Deadline
November 20 - 27
Session Break; No Arena Volunteers
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| Giddy Up and Give |
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Each year, Little Bit invites participants, volunteers, and their friends and families to get involved by fundraising for our fall campaign. For 2016, the funds raised for our horse teams will be used toward the cost of our equine needs at Little Bit.
Giddy Up and Give will be October 24-November 19.
Here's how it works.
- Sign up at the front desk for a Horse Team by choosing your favorite Little Bit horse. Pledge cards are available at the front desk to share with family and friends.
- Share this opportunity with friends and family through the link on the Little Bit Facebook page. Be sure that you encourage your friends and family to select your horse team at the bottom of this webpage when they choose to give.
- After you collect pledges and donations, please drop off your pledge card and any monies collected to the front desk staff. Deadline is November 19.
- The winning horse team will be announced in November, and prizes will be awarded to the participants of the winning horse team.
Prizes:
The horse team with the most funds raised will provide:
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Riders and patients
with the opportunity of a one-on-one photo with the horse of the winning team (date to be determined).
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Volunteers
will be entered to win an opportunity to spend quality time hand-grazing and pampering the horse of the winning team.
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Horse
of the winning team will receive up to $400 of pampering with items such as a new blanket, brushes, or equine massage.
Sign-up now at the front desk for your favorite horse team or visit http://bit.ly/giddyupandgive to see your horse team page and share with friends and family.
Let's giddy up!
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| 2016 Making Strides Community Luncheon |
Our annual luncheon, held at the Bellevue Club, was a great success. K
eynote speaker Beth Wojick (former CEO of the Washington Special Olympics) and rider Gracie encouraged donors to give, and they gave generously. A total of $90,000 was raised to help Little Bit continue the work of changing lives, one stride at a time.
You can see a video of Grace's speech at the luncheon here:
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| It's the Little Things |
 Have you noticed a fellow volunteer going above and beyond? Want to give them a shout-out? We'd like to recognize and thank volunteers who are giving 110%.
Please send your shout-out to Melanie Renk, and we'll feature as many as we can in our next newsletter. |
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Check out our Barn Team!
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Honey and the rest of the Little Bit herd are looking for volunteers 14
years and older who can make a weekly commitment to their care.
Volunteers keep our horses happy and healthy by delivering lunch, re-filling water buckets, and mucking paddocks.
We offer shifts Monday-Saturday from 11 AM - 1:30 PM.
Email
Ariel Aman
for more information or to schedule a brief training!
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Continued Education Opportunities
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Continued education opportunities are an excellent opportunity to learn how to work better with our herd and expand upon
horsemanship skills!
Paddock Training
Weekly, Fall Session:
Mon, 3:30 - 4:30 PM
Tues, 4 - 5 PM
Wed, 5 - 6 PM
Thurs, 12 - 1 PM
Fri,11 - 12 PM
Horse Leader Level I
Paddock Trained volunteers can
catch a
nd turn out horses before and after class. Sign up for training in the Tack Barn.
Horse Leaders are responsible for helping their horse follow directions
in class.
Volunteers must be Paddock Trained in order to participate. Please email Melanie Renk to sign up!
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Arena Volunteers
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We still have regular volunteer positions available this session. Eight sidewalker and fifteen leader openings to be exact!
Benefits of volunteering include, but are not limited to...
- A sense of accomplishment and enjoyment
- Pleasure and enjoyment in giving of yourself
- Affection and gratitude from riders and horses
- New friends
- New skills
- Physical exercise
- An opportunity to make a difference and witness the results!
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| Little Bit GREEN Update |
 Little Bit is switching our Septic System back over to Holding-Tank/Pum
ping season again for the next 6 months.
Our Water Conservation efforts over the past year are paying off...literally!
For the year to date, we have used 20% less water in the Welcome Center and the Tack Barn, which
saves us
big $$$
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How does it save us money?
For every drop of water used in the Welcome Center and Tack Barn that goes down the drain (that means toilets, sinks and dishwasher) we pay 38 cents per gallon to have it pumped from our septic holding tanks.
Fun fact: At 1.6 gallons per flush, that's about 61 cents per flush!
Here's the good news:
Due to our smart water-usage efforts so far this year, we have saved over $5000 in septic pumping costs alone.
NICE WORK EVERYBODY!
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| Holiday Gift Ideas |
Spread a Little Bit of cheer this holiday season! Little Bit spirit gear makes a great gift for your favorite rider, or for yourself! We have brand-new neon-colored ponies wearing Little Bit bandannas. Custom-order T-shirts, hoodies, and jackets in a variety of sizes and colors. To receive your items before the winter break in December, the last day to order is November 15.
You can also order Little Bit merchandise online at
www.fieldhouse.com/LittleBit. The online store offers tees, hoodies, jackets, hats, and MANY more items like mugs and backpacks--even baby clothes! You can customize your items by choosing from a rainbow of colors, and you can even add your name or custom text to some items. Order by December 7 to receive your Little Bit items from the online store by Christmas.
Lastly, please
remember to link your Amazon account to Little Bit by visiting Smile.Amazon.com. Little Bit receives 0.5% back from all eligible purchases! And if you're looking for charitable giving opportunities this holiday season, consider checking out Little Bit's Amazon Wishlist.
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Volunteer Spotlight: Jean Ringwalt
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What motivated you to volunteer at Little Bit?
When I lived in Colorado I volunteered for a therapeutic riding center.
I knew it was something I wanted to continue when I moved to Washington. I love being around horses, and I learn something daily from working with our clients.
Which Little Bit horse is your favorite, and why?
I think it's a tie between Sherman & Jimmy.
They both have very funny personalities. They remind me of my old Paint
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Do you have a hidden talent or hobby?
I guess my hidden talent would be that I have a Commercial Pilots License. I love to travel,
hike and ski.
What's one piece of advice you'd give a new volunteer?
Try not to feel intimidated.
Don't feel
uncomfortable or afraid to ask questions!!
Jean has volunteered 190 hours since she came to Little Bit in September 2015. She's a regular as a Horse Leader and also helped with this year's Pat Flynn Memorial Horse Show. We especially appreciate Jean's can-do attitude. Thank you, Jean, for all you bring to Little Bit!
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Meet our Staff: Heather Nesse
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What do you do here, including your official title?
My official title is Instructor, Volunteer Training Specialist, and Instructor Intern Coordinator
:)
I am a full time Instructor, but teaching classes isn't all I do!
-As a Volunteer Training Specialist; I help schedule/coordinate/conduct: PVT, HLT, HLT2, Paddock Trainings, Training Team Trainings, and Captain Trainings. I also have built training curriculum for our newer trainings as well as update curriculum of our regular trainings.
-As an Instructor Intern Coordinator; I interview potential people who have applied to our Intern Program, orient interns to our program, schedule interns into adaptive classes, mentor interns through their internship on a weekly and monthly basis, hold Continuing Education classes for Interns weekly, and do Intern reviews to make sure our interns our learning/progressing/and ready for Instructor Certification.
-Other parts of my job also include Schooling my assigned program horses and long line in Hippotherapy sessions.
How long have you worked for Little Bit?
I have worked at Little bit for 4 years now. I interned at Little Bit back in 2007 to gain my teaching hours to become an instructor and came back to teach full time at Little Bit in May 2012! I have been teaching adaptive classes now for 9 years!
What do you love most about Little Bit?
Two things I love about my job are: problem solving for riders- figuring out what I can do to help them learn and achieve their goals, and then seeing my riders learn and progress!
What kinds of hobbies and interests do you have outside of work?
I go camping, backpacking, hiking, rock climbing, and skiing with my husband and our Golden Retriever Jackson! I love to sing, dance, paint, color, and scrapbook! On a lazy day, I could easily spend all day watching movies or reading.
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2016 Archived Volunteer Bulletins
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Stay Connected!
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Click the icon below to
stay informed on the latest events, opportunities and news!
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Thanks for reading and thank you for your service!
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