Arami Acres Inc

Arami Acres is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering children and adults with special needs to develop physically, mentally, and emotionally through Equine-Assisted Learning (EAL).Our goal is to build up our community where people feel welcome, seen and wanted. Founded in 2018, Arami Acres was established in honor of our daughter, Sarah, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2001. During her illness, our family discovered the healing power of interacting with horses and were amazed by Sarah’s ability to re-learn to walk, improve her balance  and receive the emotional /social support she needed while on horseback. We became passionate about sharing the magic of EAL with other children and their families, especially those from minority or lower socio-economic communities who traditionally do not have access to this kind of therapeutic resource. 

Arami Acres offers a variety of different EAL programs, creating tailor-made lesson plans for each participant based on their specific needs. We collaborate with school counselors, therapists, parents/caregivers, and other personnel to set qualitative and quantitative goals for each student’s development so our participants can apply the skills they learn in the barn and the arena in their daily life. Our instructors and volunteers are trained using principles from established equine programs such as Stable Moments and PATH, Int., and work hard to ensure that each session is fun for the riders and their families. We encourage siblings to join in and ride with their brother or sister with special needs during the lessons. Not only do we encourage and support all the family members, we provide opportunities to come for recreational/holiday events to make memories together. 

 Arami Acres  hosts several annual events at no cost to the families. These include our Fall Festival, where participants dress up and “trick-or-treat” on horseback, our Easter Egg Hunt on horseback along with our llama kissing photo booths and several other fun activities. We have recently begun a Read to the Horse program and Bedtime stories with the animals, which included Albert the llama dressed in red pajamas! We also provide opportunities for birthday celebrations, as many times families struggle to find a special way to celebrate that is meaningful as well as accessible for their child, no matter what age.

Since the program’s inception, we’ve witnessed countless victories and celebrated the many ways our participants have grown throughout their experiences. Whether it was hearing the joyous laughter from a four-year-old with spina bifida, as she and her horse trot across the arena, or a non verbal young man with autism move from not being able to put on a helmet and ride the horse to coming into the arena and getting on the horse and riding, to inspiring a sixteen-year-old girl with a history of social and emotional  trauma  pursue a college education and major in special education. 

 Many of the families we work with cannot afford extra support services, so the majority of the costs for our program are shouldered by my husband and I, along with the generosity of several community members. However, in order for us to meet the growing needs of the community and refrain from placing any undue financial burden on families, we need support through sponsorship from donors.