Southlands Therapeutic Riding Society

Dear Riders, Parents, Volunteers, and friends of STaRS,

Please find a fundraising letter attached. It is ready to be printed out for your purposes with a few small personalized edits. These are necessary only in the first paragraph (where I have been admittedly fairly casual, as my mother's co-workers have received a heads-up to the letter, and I have met them all), and in the date/greeting fields. There is space in the overall formatting to add a person's full name, title and address if applicable.

I have seen a therapeutic centre fold because no one could quite believe it would happen and didn't start to ask their friends, family, co-workers, local shop-keepers, and clients for their assistance. There are many people in our lives who would be willing to donate to STaRS if they only knew what we did, and how the program impacts our community positively on a daily basis.

As it stands, STaRS subsidizes each lesson we provide. Before we pay our hard-find, very qualified therapeutic instructors, we charge $25 per 30 minute lesson and pay that same amount to rent a horse for the program per lesson. That may sound ridiculous, but that absolves us from the costs of the daily shelter and care of a number of large animals, as well as emergency veterinary costs. By sharing office space with Pony Meadows/Maynard's, we pay no rent for a facility in a notoriously expensive area of the lower mainland. Our Board Treasurer Jennifer Maynard donates her time and the time of her office staff to help answer phones and perform the financial administration for STaRS. As some of you may already know, the true cost of each 30 minute lesson is around $75.

Please encourage those people you contact to do the same to their whole network of friends, family, and associates. I have heard such genuine success stories from so many of you; these are the things that our networks need to hear! Imagine what a lift to people this provides, considering all the negativity that is out there.

And please do let your networks know that they are welcome to come and see STaRS in action, speak with me personally with any questions they may have, or have me come and address their office or community groups. This is what I am most passionate about, and I truly love to help others see why.

Please feel free to forward this letter.

Sincerely,

Megan McDonald
Program Manager