The Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle had the honor of celebrating Kay Barkwill as our 2024 Stefani Pierson Champion for Youth on the evening of Thursday, April 18. This year's celebration was especially meaningful as, for the first time ever, it was held in the gym at the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Club.
The Champion for Youth Dinner was started in 2009 by then board member Kevin Knowles and Executive Director Stefani Pierson. Club alumnae, Olympic athlete, and former WNBA star Vicky Bullett was the first recipient.
Since then, 14 other community members, all who have made the Eastern Panhandle a better place for kids, have been recognized. As the 15th recipient of the honor, Kay was recognized for the young lives she has touched by establishing then volunteering thousands of hours at Horses with Hearts.
Horses with Hearts provides therapeutic horseback riding lessons that build strength and coordination skills, improve memory, teach responsibility, and promote an overall sense of well-being. Under Kay’s leadership, the organization has expanded to include equine learning programs that enable individuals who are focused on enhancing their emotional and mental health to partner with horses in a way that promotes growth and healing as they address a wide variety of issues including trauma related disorders, addiction recovery, PTSD, and grief. Horses With Hearts also provides Equine-Assisted Leadership Development workshops that provide experimental hand-on leadership skills to for-profit, non-profit, military, first responders and at risk-youth to our community members.
Since 2020, Horses with Hearts has provided Horsepower Summer camps through Jefferson County Schools and the Boys & Girls Club providing equine learning and horsepower reading to many of our children.
We appreciate the partnership, and we appreciate Kay!