Caribou area families with special needs will benefit from Manes and Tails fund raising. Tracy Thibodeau, with Equine Inspirations Learning Center on the Plante Rd, states her summer schedule is already filling up, and she is accepting empties for the current Manes and Tails fundraiser at her farm also.
The Manes and Tails Scholarship Fund bottle drive has been under way for a month and bags are piling up around Aroostook County. Response has been very good when MT volunteers ask for donations from friends and relatives. Even more inspiring are the donations dropped off at several county drop sites by caring people of Aroostook.
“I was coming in from barn chores and there were four bags of empties in the driveway,” stated Nancy Dumond Violette of Van Buren. “We’ve had good reports of donations in the Houlton area also, the local media coverage has been a helpful factor.”
Manes and Tails Aroostook is a County non-profit which seeks to support the growth of special needs people using equine-assisted activities to improve their lives. A decision will be made during the group’s meeting on Wednesday, March 7 as to long the “Bottle Mission” will continue. The group already has six requests for tuition funding (scholarships ranging from $100 to $250) for 2012 and expects the requests to at least double through the summer from Madawaska to Houlton. Participants may apply funding to the equine facility of their choice in Aroostook County.
“A lot of work is still ahead,” Dumond Violette said, describing many fundraisers and administrative endeavors in the groups’s future.
Meetings are always open to anyone interested in horses helping humans. The March 7 meeting is at the Oriental Pearl Restaurant in Presque Isle; dinner, networking and educational elements begins at 6, business is conducted from 7-8:30 p.m.
The Manes and Tails website is www.manesandtailsaroostook.webs.com and the organization can be found on Facebook as Manes and Tail Aroostook. For more information, contact Nancy Dumond Violette at 868 5324, or 484 1231.
