NATIONAL CENTER FOR EQUINE FACILITATED THERAPY
 

January 2015
 
IN THIS ISSUE
Annual Fund Thank You!
Two Notable NCEFT Clients
Introducing the Social Skills Play Group
Staff Spotlight - Darrel Le Blanc

Annual Fund Thank You!
NCEFT Year End Campaign a Success!

We want to take a moment to thank all of you who made our Annual Fund Campaign a rousing success! We got off to a somewhat rocky start on #GivingTuesday, December 2, when our online donation hosting company was overwhelmed, rendering their servers down. All day. But our donors and supporters were not to be phased by one little technical hiccup! With an amazing outpouring of support from mailed and online donations (yes the donation pages were restored as of December 3), we surpassed our giving goals, welcomed more than a dozen first-time donors, and received many gifts in honor and memory of loved ones.

 

NCEFT is humbled and gratified by your generosity of spirit and steadfast belief that together we can make a difference in the lives of those with disabilities. As we look ahead to 2015 we are confident that we have the financial stability to continue our life-changing programs, support those less fortunate with financial assistance, and continue to provide services free of charge to military Veterans. As we pointed out in our Annual Campaign materials, the fees we charge patients for services only cover about 26% of the cost of providing services. We look to generous individuals, corporations and foundations to raise the rest. 

 

THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING SUPPORTERS FOR BEING PART OF THE 74%!

 

Daphne Adam

Deborah Addicott

Katherine & Kimberly Aitken-Young

Beverly & Lee Altschuler

Linda & Alvin Arata

Nancy Argo

Karen Arimoto-Peterson

Steve & Joy Atwell

Sybilla & Alex Balkanski

Shelly & Ed Begun

Carole Bridgeman

Suzanne Bryan

Geraldine & Sonia Cacianti

Susan & Gerald Caraher

Gail Carter

William R. Clark

Mary and Drew Crousore

Dayton Crummey & Jeanne Lycett

Betsy & Albert Cuisinot

Regina Davis

Christine Devoto

Diana Dollar Knowles Foundation

Alex Dziekanowski

Erin Mac Jewelry/Erin MacGeraghty

Patricia Doll Fallstrom

Rose Marie Ferrando

Christine Finerty

Bear Gulch Foundation

Marie Fox & George Ellison

Anne & Buzz Frahn

Susan Frankel & Brittany O'Leary

Dianne & Dennis Garcia

Jan & Bob Garcia

Mr. & Mrs. Theodore Geballe/Eucalyptus Associates

Ronda Goldman Sahara Farms LLC

Joan Grazzini

Dennis Green & Heather de Valois-Green

Derrick Green

Cherie & Tom Hammer

Andrew Harman & Liyang Zhou

Randall Heath

Darayn Hickingbotham

Marianne & Paul Hoffman

Ron & Leesa Kirkish

Jan & Robert Kopf

Mark & Kathleen Kraynak

Lucy & Rob Krensky

Susan Lang & Robert Levenson

Marty Lenzi

Elaine Levenson

Daniele Levy

Summer Lopez

Maco Security Products

Shelly Meredith

Nan & Bill Nagle

Leslie & Thomas Norrie

Diane Northway

Gale Olson

Lynda & Pete Paffrath

Barry & Suzette Pangrle

Bubble Pop Software

Pelzner & Associates/Lawrence E. Pelzner

Patricia Piersimoni

Scott & Kimberley Rago

Sheryl Reo

Mark & Maureen Sanders

Frances Santo Domingo

Scandling Family Foundation

Wendy Scott

Kathleen Scutchfield

Jenny Canfield Smith

Staley Family Foundation

Dr. Joanne Stenger

Laurie and Lee Strawn

The Mah Jongg Ladies @ Peninsula Golf & Country Club

Jim and Gayle Travis

Diego Valderrama & Afra Afsharipour

Nathaly & John Walker

Steve & Laura Welch

H. Frank Wentholt

Carleen Whittelsey

Elizabeth Williams

Merle Wolfe

Donna Wonnacott

Stuart & Karen Yasgoor

Chris and Suzanne Zaino

Charlotte Ziems

 

2015 WINTER CALENDAR
 
JAN 5:  Session I begins
 
JAN 19:  Martin Luther King Holiday (NCEFT closed) 

FEB 16:  President's Day Holiday (NCEFT Closed)

MAR 16-20:  BREAK (no sessions)

Notable Clients...
Two NCEFT clients are in the news


 

Ohlone Elementary School fourth-grader, Dashiell Meier, has taken his message about living with Down syndrome to Sacramento, as well as to Washington, D.C. Whether meeting with members of Congress or speaking to fellow Palo Alto elementary school students, Dashiell has worked to create a culture of acceptance and tolerance by educating people about why he's different. This year he won the Council for Exceptional Children's "Yes I Can!" Award for Self-Advocacy, a national honor. 

 

Click here to read more about how Dashiell is one of "Five People Who Inspired Palo Alto Online in 2014"!


 

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Local Bay Area filmmaker, Taylor Whitehouse, is debuting a short documentary, GURU ZANE, about long-time NCEFT client, Zane Robinson, a special needs child whose warmth and character transform his family and caregivers in reciprocal loving devotion. Zane, now 14 years old, was diagnosed with Emmanuel Syndrome shortly after birth, and he is only one of roughly 500 people who have been diagnosed worldwide. GURU ZANE is an illustration of growth and love that demonstrates the most valuable lessons a family can learn from having a child with special needs. 

GURU ZANE will be premiering at the Roxie Theatre in San Francisco on January 24th at 3pm. Tickets are $10 and open to all. For more information click here. To purchase tickets, click here.

 

 

Leaps of Faith

"Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith." -- Margaret Shepard

 

New year. New resolutions. New beginnings. New transitions. The dropping of the ball on New Year's Eve might naturally makes one think of fresh starts and new beginnings or, at the very least, finding a new calendar to hang next to the desk come January 1st. When you think about it, most New Year's resolutions are by their very nature more leaps of faith rather than the result of analytics. As our world gets more techno-saturated and driven by numbers and data, leaps of faith actually become more important and more meaningful to our lives. At NCEFT we see these leaps every day: a new patient trying a hippotherapy session for the first time, a new horse joining the team, or the launch of a new program like our Social Skills Playgroup (see below). New is good. New is exciting. New is risky. What I love about the picture above is that Willy and Wonka are taking a leap, but doing it together. Sometimes the only way to get to a new place is by a leap of faith, but when you do have to take that leap, isn't it always better to not take it alone? Here's to a 2015 filled with a lot of leaps that lead you in new, exciting directions!

 

Cherie Hammer

NCEFT Development Director

SOCIAL SKILLS PLAY GROUP
New Program Starting January 2015

NCEFT is pleased to announce the formation of the Social Skills Play Group! 

The SSPG is a new program, led by NCEFT staff Occupational Therapist, Lexi Parker. Lexi plans to utilize a wonderful curriculum, Sensitive Solutions, combined with animal therapy to help children aged 3-7 with emotional regulation, verbal expression and negotiation, empathy, flexibility, and sensory integration. You can learn more about Sensitive Solutions at www.sensitivesolutions.org.

Groups are forming now, and 10-week sessions are slated to kick off on Wednesdays beginning January 21st. For ages 3-5 the group will meet at NCEFT from 2:30-3:45p. Ages 5-7 will meet from 4:15-5:30p.

For more information or to sign up for one of the groups, please email Lexi Parker at lexi@nceft.org or call NCEFT at 650-851-2271. 



Don't loose the holiday spirit - click below to watch some great moments from the
2014 NCEFT Family Holiday Party
NCEFT Family Holiday Party 2014
NCEFT Family Holiday Party December 2014
Staff Spotlight: Darrel Le Blanc
Horse Handler and Singer Extraordinaire! 

In this issue we shine the spotlight on NCEFT Horse Handler, Darrel Le Blanc. Most days you will find Darrel at the end of a line - a horse line that is, be it a lunge line exercising one of our horses or a long line driving a horse during a hippotherapy session. Darrel is a superior rider and horse handler, but if you haven't had the pleasure of hearing him sing, you are truly

missing out on his secret hidden talent! He rocked the National Anthem at the 2014 Gala and never fails to carry us along during staff sings of "Happy Birthday." Darrel's cool, smooth manner and warm Southern grace is appreciated by NCEFT's humans and horses alike. Here are a few Darrel factoids...  

 

Where were you born?  Morganza, Louisiana

How long have you been with NCEFT?  Almost 1 year

What's the strangest job you have ever had?  Starting new horses for the racetrack.

Chocolate or vanilla?   Chocolate

What's your favorite color horse?  Gray

If you could visit any place in the world, where would you go?   France (particularly the area outside Lorraine where his forebears are from)

What is your favorite non-horse related activity?   Singing & gardening

iPhone or Android?   iPhone

Last book you read?   A Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind
Favorite cartoon character?   Popeye

 

 

AmazonSmile: It's not just for holiday shopping! You shop, Amazon gives all year through! Simply start your Amazon shopping at smile.amazon.com and NCEFT will receive a % of your purchases as a direct donation from Amazon at no additional cost to you! 


About Us
For more than four decades, NCEFT has helped thousands of children and adults with special needs move beyond their boundaries through the healing powers of the horse and the skills of dedicated professionals and volunteers.  Internationally recognized as a leader in the field, NCEFT offers Hippotherapy, Adaptive Riding & Carriage Driving, Veterans programs and School programs at its beautiful,12-acre facility in Woodside, California. We are a 501(c)3 organization, Top Rated on  www.GreatNonProfits.org and a bronze www.GuideStar.org participant.

 


 
National Center for Equine Facilited Therapy - NCEFT
880 Runnymede Road
Woodside, CA  94062
(650) 851-2271