The year 2020 will be remembered by most people as a year of extreme changes. For many of us who have been in the trenches with the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s (GDA) Equine Division employees, it will also be remembered as the end of their program as we have known it for the past 27 years.
I learned to embrace change while working in the corporate world and that mindset is carrying through to all of the changes impacting the Georgia Equine Rescue League (GERL) right now.
One of the biggest tasks that I hope to accomplish this year is updating our documentation. That includes our Mission Statement, Get Well Plan, Business Plans, etc. that reflect the Georgia Department of Agriculture Equine Division as the main recipient of GERL funds and support. We did commit to continue to support the two State prison impounds, Pulaski and Lee Arrendale, but the budget is small compared to what it once was. We have made a request to the GDA to meet sometime in the future to discuss how things will work with regard to where the prison impounds will get their horses, how they will move the horses, etc. We have requested that GERL take a more active role in working directly with the prisons. Of course, the Covid virus shutdown has everything on hold for now, but we’re looking forward to some changes within the two prison impounds.
New business plans need to be written with guidelines on our new Horses Heal Veterans program. The GERL Board members know very little about the equine therapeutic business and have been relying on the experts at Waypoint Ranch and Unbridled Joy for guidance. One of the things we have learned is that just because you want to work with Veterans in an equine setting does not mean that the Vets suddenly show up at your facility for therapy. It appears that there is a good bit of red tape to get the larger organizations such as the Veterans Administration or Wounded Warriors to send the veterans and fund their therapy. One thing we all agree on is that Veterans should not pay for any sessions. One of the roles that we see GERL fulfilling within this program is to offer grants to non-profit veteran therapeutic organizations to pay for equine therapy for veterans. Another suggestion as to the type of support GERL could lend would be to provide feed or vet care via a grant to the horses used for veteran therapy. We are still in the fact gathering stage with regard to what other type of support is needed and how we can best help, but this is a brand new direction for GERL and we are all very excited about what the future holds. We have already drafted a Grant Application that we intend to use to help figure out what is needed most.
The amount of support that GERL has already received from many of our members and supporters about the new direction we are taking with veterans has been overwhelmingly positive. Almost everybody has an affiliation to a Veteran in some way or other, and let me say this, about that, they are passionate about it!
I am inspired at their stories and it provides me with the positive attitude that GERL can grow this program successfully just because of the great need. We intend to join the already existing Movement called Twenty-two to zero, which is bringing public awareness to the suicide rate among military veterans. It is amazingly high; 22 per day. That number needs to change dramatically.
There is a lot to learn and do, but I believe that we have the public support behind us that we need to Make A Difference to our Veterans.
