If you would like to
interact directly with our volunteers and family members, be sure to
sign up for the Personal Ponies Chat List. Our list is open to
anyone with an interest
in the organization and requires only that you have an email
address.
Once you subscribe,
you will receive copies of all the email
that is written by other list members and have the opportunity
to “watch” our families and volunteers both working and playing
together as they share news, ask questions, work on projects
and plan events together.
We also hope you
will jump right in, introduce yourself, ask
any questions you may have and get to know more about us and
the important work that goes on every day.
To join the list, go
to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PPLtd
and click on the “Subscribe to this group”
link on the right. This list is sponsored by Yahoo, so if you already
have a Yahoo ID, you can sign in with your existing ID and joing
the group. If you do not have a Yahoo ID, you will be asked
to provide your email address and establish a password. Once
logged in, you can sign up for the PPLtd list and begin to receive
mail right away!
Being a volunteer at
PERSONAL PONIES is not
just about work. Or money. Or giving to others. Our volunteers also
find THEIR lives
immeasurably enriched by the work they do. Caring for our ponies and
watching them change the lives of children with special needs, also
changes their lives. We get lots of letters from our volunteers
and we thought you might like to read a little about their experiences.
The first one from Dawn Field really sums up a year in the life of a
dedicated and loving PPL volunteer.
HI Marianne,
Here is my Mystery girl. She still thinks she wants to be in my pocket
when
ever I am around. She is such a love. She enjoys being "the party
girl"..
We are taking most of this month, Jan and Feb. as some down time. We are
visiting two special homes this month but that will be all.
We visited 63 homes and traveled 2,233 miles for PPL visits in
2008.
Hope you have a wonderful holiday season.
Love Dawn Field and The Munchkins
Thoughts
on the Retirement of Animals - Gail Schumann, one of our most
experienced breeders, writes about her thoughts on our ponies and their
retirements. We think Gail expresses our sentiments EXACTLY.
PIGLET
& the Christmas Parade - Kim in Central Arkansas took her
pony to a Christmas parade--with the most UNEXPECTED results. Read this
heartwarming story of a pony, a parade, and a little girl named
Christine.
An
Afternoon Walk with a Special Pony - Liane Langbehn, State
Director of Maryland, writes about a special afternoon with her most
special pony.
A
Goodbye to Jennifer - Sherry Davenport, a devoted volunteer who
uses our ponies as part of her program working with children with anger
aggressive behavior and /or severe low self esteem, tells us about
Jennifer, a little girl who never got to see one of our ponies, but
whose short life inspired other children to be PERSONAL PONIES
volunteers so that the next time they won't be "too late."
Thoughts
on UK Shetlands - Vicky Priest was our previous State Director
for North
Carolina. In these excerpts from a post to the PPL Chat List, Vicky
makes some interesting points about why we breed the UK Shetland for
our program. This is a subject that our volunteers talk about often
because it IS hard at first to understand just how unique and ideally
suited to the program the UK Shetland is.
BUFF
"Therapy" - Mary Van Dorp is a Child and Family Psychologist as
well as a PPL Volunteer Community Director who promotes our program
with her pony, LUCKY CHANCE BUFF. Usually BUFF isn't part of Mary's
professional practice, but in this case of a young girl in the midst of
a family crisis, BUFF was just the right "medicine."
Why
we breed UK Shetlands - Charlee Messick, our previous National
Director
of Breeding/Placement, wrote this letter in response to a query asking
why PERSONAL PONIES does not rescue ponies for use with our children
and why we believe that our UK type Shetlands Ponies are very, very
different from other, similar sized equines.
