A few years ago Christina Pacitti needed a place to be distracted from the difficulties of her young life.
She found it grooming a Shetland pony named Bella and then horses at the Windsor-Essex Therapeutic Riding Association.
“I like how there’s no judgment,” the 19-year-old from LaSalle said Friday. “They just love you when you’re grooming them and taking care of them.”
For decades the Windsor-Essex Therapeutic Riding Association has given children and adults with disabilities and special needs the opportunity to ride horses. Now it wants to help more teens like Pacitti develop social and emotional skills by caring for horses and working with volunteers and staff at the 72-acre complex near McGregor.
Violet Muscat, left, and Christina Pacitti groom Wendy at the Windsor-Essex Therapeutic Riding Association near McGregor on Oct. 28, 2016. WETRA received a $221,900 Trillium Grant.
The association is one of four Windsor-Essex groups that got the bulk of $1 million in grants announced recently through the Ontario Trillium Foundation for Essex County, Chatham-Kent and Lambton County.
The riding association is getting a $221,900 grant.
“Complete elation,” managing director Becky Mills said Friday of the funding announcement.
Mills said the money will help 175 youths aged 15 to 29 in the next three years. They could be teens with struggles at home or ones who have dropped out of school. Much of the money will go to transportation to get at-risk youth to the rural site. The hope is the horses, miniature donkey and pot-bellied pig will help young people find a sense of purpose as they feed the animals and learn to groom and saddle the horses.
Pacitti, who had never ridden a horse or seen one up close, smiles more these days, is taking the courses she needs to complete her high school education and wants to be an art therapist. Mills said Pacitti created her own day camp lessons this summer where she had groups of children making a quilt or listening to her stories and imagining they were at a circus. Being around the horses and people has helped her become less introverted.
“We see a place for her here. She really does shine,” Mills said.
The other Windsor, Essex County, Chatham-Kent and Sarnia groups receiving Trillium grants include:
- The Leamington District Chamber of Commerce is getting a $75,000 grant to study the feasibility of creating a Leamington Greenhouse Centre of Excellence to help train people and promote careers in the large greenhouse sector.
- Community Living Essex County is receiving a $164,900 grant for almost three years to offer more free exercise training to adults with autism spectrum disorder and an intellectual disability.
- Financial Fitness in Windsor will receive a $190,000 grant over three years to offer additional financial literacy workshops and personal coaching for low-income earners.
- In Chatham-Kent, the Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation will receive $286,700 over three years to hire an additional co-ordinator for a program that helps youths with special needs.
- Sarnia Lambton Rebound will use its $63,500 grant to create a one-stop, multi-service location helping young people develop strong emotional and social skills.
WINDSOR, ON. OCTOBER 28, 2016. — Violet Muscat (left) and Christina Pacitti groom Wendy at the Windsor-Essex Therapeutic Riding Association near McGregor on Friday, October 28, 2016. WETRA received a $221,900 Trillium Grant. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE / WINDSOR STAR)
WINDSOR, ON. OCTOBER 28, 2016. — Violet Muscat grooms Wendy at the Windsor-Essex Therapeutic Riding Association near McGregor on Friday, October 28, 2016. WETRA received a $221,900 Trillium Grant. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE / WINDSOR STAR)
WINDSOR, ON. OCTOBER 28, 2016. — Violet Muscat (right) and Christina Pacitti groom Wendy at the Windsor-Essex Therapeutic Riding Association near McGregor on Friday, October 28, 2016. WETRA received a $221,900 Trillium Grant. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE / WINDSOR STAR)
