Harper-Lynn Talks Again!

Your help makes miracles happen. That’s what the families and therapists who work with the children you support through Jacob’s Fund’s tell us. Harper-Lynn is one of those children, and this is her story.

Harper-Lynn Easter Morning 2014

"She changed before my eyes!" says Tara.

We're standing outside the fence of the indoor arena at McKenna Farms, watching as Harper-Lynn, Tara's 2-1/2-year-old daughter, gives a command for her horse to stop and starts using the horse-shaped whistle her therapist, Rachel, has just handed her.

Harper-Lynn is smiling and talking with Rachel in the bumble-bee voice of a very young child. And Harper-Lynn is little—the smallest helmet is too big for her, so she's wearing a Queen Elsa Frozen hat under it.

Four months ago, Harper-Lynn began hippotherapy, after nearly a year of frightening, disheartening events. At eighteen months, her vocabulary included one hundred words and phrases. Then, suddenly, something happened. Within three months, her vocabulary dwindled until she could only say Momma and ball; she lost muscle tone and began falling down, and she began having aggression and sensory issues.  

As we watch her ride, it seems almost impossible that we’re talking about the same child.  She’s composed, sitting upright, carrying out the therapy tasks Rachel gives her.  

 At the Frog-Sorting Station on Jacob's Trail

When she began hippotherapy in November of 2014, Harper-Lynn still wasn’t talking or interacting with those around her, even after several months of therapy delivered in the standard indoor setting.

“But Spirit, her horse, wouldn’t move unless she gave commands: Stop! Go!” says Rachel.  

And so she gave the command, and took off, on her horse and in her speech.  

Now, Tara says, her favorite subject of conversation is Spirit. She’s always asking, “When can I ride Spirit again?”

Rachel reports that Harper-Lynn has made gains in language and communication, as well as social skills. “The horse is a big draw for her. Her strength and endurance have improved. During therapy, in order to reach the toys we use, she has to reach beyond midline, get the toy, then correct to midline. She’s doing this on the horse using her core muscles, not her arms.”

 In the indoor arena, Harper Lynn wears her Frozen 
hat under her helmet (even the smallest helmet is too big for her) 
but she solves the problem with great fashion sense.

“And,” she adds, “She has good carryover at home. Her mom continues to work with her.”

Tara’s summation of her daughter’s improvement is less clinical, but just as clear. “People who know us, people at our church, say the change is miraculous. They cry when they see what she is able to do now.”

As she says this, there are tears in her eyes, and mine, tears of joy. Hers for the little girl dismounting from her horse near where we stand. Mine for Jacob Noah Beachy, my grandson, who began hippotherapy here in 2006 and talked about his horse, too, and whose spirit lives on in the lives of little ones like Harper-Lynn through the scholarships we provide in his memory.

“I want more children to have this opportunity,” says Tara.  

So do we, Tara. So do our supporters.

It’s through the generosity of people like you that we are able to change the lives of children like Harper-Lynn. Thank you. 

~Glenna Fisher, Jacob's Fund Director

JACOB'S FUND :: New perspectives

Laura meeting Spirit

It is always a joy to bring new people along on our trips as they offer us fresh perspectives on both our work and our partners. They take in everything for the first time, and their impressions are often poignant. Today we share those impressions with you, first from Laura, a supporter and horse-lover from Ohio. Then, we'll hear from our President, Kathy, as she shares the changes she's observed over the years.

Laura Ramsey :: I am a full-time in-home clinical social worker for children and families. I have had the privilege of working in many settings from hospice to foster care during my career. Never in my professional life have I seen anything quite like McKenna Farms; I was truly in awe as I took it all in. 

We arrived to a see white picket-fenced farm, the parking lot full of cars, the entire area buzzing with children and therapists. McKenna Farms has an ease and a feeling of home coupled with the murmur of evidence-based therapy and change. 

McKenna Farms seamlessly joins physical therapy, occupational therapy, therapeutic riding, and hippotherapy, all in one place. The staff, licensed professionals, talented horse handlers, and dedicated volunteers work together seamlessly to create an environment in which therapy is delivered to 350 kids per week. 

At McKenna Farms, I see and hear passion everywhere. I see it in the faces of both clients and parents. I hear it in the voices of those who talk about their experience and those who are delivering therapy. 

Jessie, founder and director, has dedicated her professional career to creating a unique farm that has managed to overcome the financial barriers that stand in the way of those who wish to join multi-disciplines together. Jessie’s passion spills over when she speaks of the future, which includes a pool where water therapy can be delivered on site. 

My visit to McKenna farms made me clearly understand why The Red Thread Promise has chosen to support the children there. The Farm is forward thinking and capitalizes on the talents of many to impact the lives of children at a crucial moment in time. McKenna Farms is truly a one-of-a-kind agency that I look forward to returning to in the future.

Kathy enjoying one of the therapy horses

Kathy Korge Albergate :: Our September, 2014 visit to McKenna Farms was my first in three years and it’s obvious that I’d been away too long. Way too long. So much has happened in that time. Laura, a friend of The Red Thread Promise, and Sonya, Vice-President of The Red Thread Promise, joined me on this trip.

Though Sonya has made the trip several times in those three years, and her last visit was less than four months ago, she was astounded to see the changes made over the summer.  

The outdoor riding arena has been rotated 90 degrees and moved closer to the fence bordering the pony corral. The remaining space where the area used to be has been readied for a future pool in which the children will take water therapy.

The entrance to the Jacob Beachy Sensory Trail is now a pleasantly curved trail. The stations have been revitalized and a new one completed. In some areas the woods have been cleared and the trail extended toward the creek on the property.  

Only passion for these kids and their ability to grow and become more independent could fuel the constant improvements Jessie and her team continue to make at McKenna Farms. And only her complete professionalism and eagerness to employ every therapy avenue that will help these children could bring those improvements to fruition.

As a Jacob’s Fund partner, McKenna Farms embodies the spirit of The Red Thread Promise, enabling children to live the richest, fullest, most independent lives possible.

Vice President, Sonya Yencer

JACOB'S FUND :: McKenna Farms Mission Experience, Late Spring 2014 part 2 - Many hands make light work

A football team, a bathroom and a shed – the makings of a busy mission experience!


Our job this weekend is to clear out brush that has grown along the fence between the corral and the trail, plant shrubs and flowers, replace two of the stations, paint and make repairs, and weed and mulch.

Football players removing a huge tree


It’s a tall order, but we’re about to get some major reinforcement. Nearby Harrison High School has just delivered a busload of students who are pouring onto the parking lot, eager to start work. They are divided into work teams and quickly dispatched to locations around the barn, farmhouse, and the riding arenas.


Soon more than a dozen young men from the football team join us and begin removing small trees and brush from along the fence line and some larger trees that have fallen along the trail to the creek. The speed and efficiency with which they do this is astounding.

Members of Christ United Methodist working on the Sensory Trail

Now the Jacob Beachy Sensory Trail is thrumming with activity. As the young men of Harrison High haul brush and trees away, two members of our team remove old whiteboard and chalkboard, making way for the new, weather-resistant Plexiglas boards. Two more are busily wielding cans of spray paint, applying a fresh coat of primary colors to the shape sorter and hanging tubes and even a bit to themselves. And still a surprising number of us are hunched over, attacking weeds with unusual vigor. Even Jacob’s baby sister and brother get into the act, helping position the posthole digger and planting flowers.

Jacob's sister Elyse (left) & friend repainting the shape sorter


The sun climbs higher and it’s hot! We’ve been working for more than three hours. It’s time for the high school students to depart, and they quickly assemble and board the bus, then disappear around the bend in the road.


The trail is quieter now, with only the occasional metallic thud of the posthole digger, the regular buzz of carpenter bees and the thwacking and sucking sound of Jacob’s younger siblings’ shoes in the mud hole they’ve discovered. 
An old saying pops into our heads: many hands make light work. With the help of the high school students, we’ve accomplished much of our work on the trail.

Jacob's brother Max helping out


After lunch, we’re ready for more chores. Sonya, The Red Thread Promise’s Vice-President, tackles painting one of the bathrooms. She’ll have to do this alone, since there’s no space for another person inside the bathroom once she gets the ladder up.


The rest of us head to the tool shed. This is more than a clearing out and reorganizing mission. You may recall that Jessie Moore, Director of McKenna Farms, lost Will, her husband and father of her two young sons, to a massive heart attack in December 2012.


Will and McKenna Farms were inextricably entwined. So much of the daily life of the farm depended on Will, and Will’s toolshed has remained pretty much untouched since his death.


We gently consult Jessie as to what should be done with each item. Sarah, Jacob’s mom, is known for her organizing skills, so once the piles are sorted, she directs us in reorganizing the shed.

Before and after - beautiful!


We head back to the farmhouse for a cool drink of water, and to admire Sonya’s handiwork. The bland off-white has been replaced with a first coat in an inviting shade of green.


Sweat trickles down our backs and faces. We are dirty and red-faced and we smile, thinking of the children who will be back to ride the trail Monday morning, breathing in the scent of sage and rosemary, tossing frogs into squares and circles and stars, playing the chimes, and talking about the pink and purple and yellow blossoms.


They’ll notice the freshly painted bathroom – kids love color. And although they won’t peer into the toolshed, the new farm manager will, and his job will be a little easier. In our mind’s eye we see the faces of those children, and our thoughts return to the conversations we’ve had with them and their families.


Exciting things are happening, and we’ll share those with you soon.

Looking for fresh faces for an upcoming trip!


Do thoughts of the children you’re helping support bring a smile to your face? We hope so. You’re an important part of what we do, and thoughts of you, too, makes us smile.


Would you like to join us on our next trip to McKenna Farms in Dallas, GA, or visit our other partnering therapy center, Hilltop Equestrian Center in West Alexandria, Ohio? If so, please let us know. Email Glenna or call 513-423-0108.

JACOB'S FUND :: McKenna Farms Mission Experience, Late Spring 2014 part 1

TRTP volunteer, Rhonda, greeting one of the therapy horses

(left to right: Bernie, Rhonda, Wilma, Christian, Judy, Sonya, Glenna, Jim)

We’ve come back to McKenna Farms for another amazing mission experience. Back to visit the children and families we support, back to the gentle horses who lend their bodies willingly and gracefully, encouraging the children on top with their easy, repetitive movements, stimulating the small bodies to copy the sweet, free motion. Back to the quiet experts, the staff and therapists who make McKenna Farms a special, loving place for these children.  

Landon, his therapist and the horse-handler at the entrance 

to the Jacob Beachy Sensory Trail

This time we’re working along the Jacob Beachy Sensory Trail (the trail), built in honor and memory of our own Jacob, for whom Jacob’s Fund is named. Nestled in the woodlands surrounding the farm, the trail leads through forest and along a stream, circling back to the sensory stations. Each year, sun and rain weather and wear the stations along the trail, and this winter’s polar vortex has taken its toll.

As we plan our work, we observe Landon on horseback placing colorful beanbag frogs into the openings of the shape sorter, stuffing a frog in a cutout of a red circle, matching the color and shape called out by his therapist. For him, this is fun. The sensory stations appeal to his senses of touch, vision, hearing, and smell with fuzzy and smooth-leaved plants; colorful flowers, plants, shapes and tubes; large melodic chimes; and fragrant herbs. 

However, the affect of the activity reaches much deeper than fun – it is serious developmental science. Children like Landon who experience developmental delays often have difficulty processing sensory input, our basic interactions with the world. These are the building blocks of all activity, allowing them to negotiate the world in which they live. The sensory stations play a critical role in occupational therapy.

We are so happy to work on this trail. It is so meaningful to us and to all of the young people who use it daily as part of their therapy.

And now the work begins.

McKenna Farm's new barn entrance

JACOB'S FUND :: McKenna Farms Spring Mission Trip 2013 (part 5)

Sunday Morning: Amazing Grace

Before my eyes open I hear Ted in the kitchen making his family recipe pancakes.  In seconds I’m dressed and following the delicious smell of pancakes on the griddle.

It’s raining. Hard.

Brian lifts his eyebrows at me and asks, “What’s our plan now?”

“No work. It would be impossible. We’d be mired in mud, red Georgia clay mud.” I hate leaving things undone, but it can’t be helped. Jessie tells me she has volunteers coming this week who can take care of what’s left.

A double helping of pancakes later, we’re gathered in the waiting room, warm and dry. We sing “Amazing Grace” to the accompaniment of Brian’s guitar.  

From where I’m sitting I have a view of the side and front of the barn, and a few feet away from it is the sign along the path that says it’s the Jacob Beachy Sensory Trail.

We would never have thought that sign would be there six years ago at this time. We’d be happy if, instead of the sign, we’d see Jacob emerging from the barn on a horse. But sometimes we don’t get a choice. And we do what we can to help others. ~ Glenna Fisher

JACOB'S FUND :: McKenna Farms Spring Mission Trip 2013 (part 4)

Brian leading the singing

Saturday: Working for the Weekend  

Bright fresh faces greet me on the patio. Brian’s ready with devotions: I Corinthians 13, the passage on love. I never tire of this, and am forever in need of reminding that love is patient, kind, never fails, and never ends. He’s also given us a songbook, and we sing three songs before we break up into work teams and scatter out over the farm. And we haven’t even had breakfast yet!

I’m passing out tools, directing wheelbarrows full of weeds to the dumpster, and recruiting help to get the Gator started. The barn is a magnet. Of course it is. How can anyone not want to see, pet, feed, groom, and lead the horses to pasture? Then there are the miniature horses. Jessie’s told our eager youth they can go inside the corral to see them up close. No sooner said than done. One or two of the kids have ridden horses before, but most are discovering these beautiful animals for the first time.  

Jessie’s here with biscuits! These are monster biscuits, light and fluffy and filled with things like bacon and sausage and cheese and egg. They’re delicious, and with the profit this morning coming to McKenna Farms, we hope they sell thousands of them.

The slight cloud cover makes today more comfortable for all-day work. I check the hourly forecast. Looks like we’re home free. No precipitation is expected until after dark. Wilma, you are the woman!

Other volunteers have arrived, including a local ROTC crew, and a young woman who has come alone. She immediately becomes part of our weeding and mulching crew, spreading pine straw after Jana, wearing the weed killer backpack, douses the unruly vegetation.

What mission trip would be complete without an encounter with wildlife? While we don’t stumble into bats, rats or tarantulas as our Red Thread counterparts in Haiti have done, Georgia has its own zoological thrills: lizards and ants. “Look what I found!” one of our young men says as he holds a lovely green gecko up for me to see. I share his delight – these little lizards are captivating.  

Our group seems to be pretty much on a live-and-let-live basis with ants for the most part, but the ants here seem determined to build skyscrapers in the midst of the planting beds, making it hard to mulch. So the routine is: ant killer, wait, check anthill for activity, then, if all is quiet, flatten anthill and spread mulch. Slows the process down a bit. 

Since a visitor to the farm parked too close to a fence last week and a horse ate the front of her car, one of our crews is moving railroad ties to the staff parking lot, placing them a safe distance from the fence and any hungry equines.  

Next they begin what will be the hardest, longest job of the day. The indoor arena sits atop a hill, and drainage and erosion have been a problem. Most of the problems have been corrected, but two perforated plastic drain pipes that ran from the arena to the pasture below have washed down. A few feet of pipe extend from the top of the hill, but most of it lies thirty or so feet below. Our mission: dig two thirty-foot trenches, reattach the pipe, and bury it. I’m somewhat surprised and pleased to see that a rather large crew, both boys and girls, has gathered to help Brian and Ted with this project. This job isn’t going to be easy.

I’ve come to borrow a mattock to dig out a transplanted shrub that is not going to make it.  Ted brings it and quickly dispenses with the dying bush, making my twenty minute task his five minute job.

Jana and I set out sandwich makings and round up our troops. They’re ready for a break, but as soon as they’ve eaten they’re back to work.

“We’re almost out of pine straw.” That’s the news as I return to the sensory trail. Jessie’s back from delivering two of the miniature horses to a festival for disabled kids at a nearby church, so it’s unhitch the horse trailer, hitch the flatbed trailer. Off to the garden center.

We’re hoping to mow the area in the center of the trail, but the riding mower can’t get close enough to the weeds around each of the stations, so I’m off to get the weed trimmer when I encounter Ben. Ben’s just completed his last task and is looking for something to do. I hold up the weed eater, which is nearly as tall as I am, and thus is at least as tall as Ben. Undeterred, he’s ready for this. I take a quick pass and then hand the trimmer to Ben. Bernie has joined us now, and he gently instructs Ben in the fine art of weed eating.  

These last thirty bales of pine straw bring our weekend total to one hundred ten bales. Good thing we brought gloves; otherwise our hands would look like pincushions.

Ted meets me at the edge of the parking lot and announces that the drain pipe is in place and buried in the two trenches they’ve been digging for six hours. I check the time – after 4 p.m. The kids are tired; they’ve worked very hard. And Ted and I are responsible for dinner tonight. I’ll prep and he’ll grill.

I run a mental inventory of what’s left to be done: mow the grass at the sensory trail, continue weed eating around the stations, and spread mulch at the few stations that still need it. Maybe an hour and a half’s worth. I think we can finish before we leave tomorrow morning.

A flock of teenage girls clusters around me in the kitchen. “Can we take a shower?” they chorus. Of course you can, I tell them. Not so simple. The next line of the chorus is “Can I go first?”  

I wash the hamburger off my hands, find paper and a pen, and make a schedule. With warnings about running out of hot water (thank goodness the boys take their showers in the barn’s upstairs bathroom), I return to making patties.  

We have one casualty – there’s a small patch of poison ivy on Alex’s leg, but the farm’s first-aid kit is amply supplied with packets of poison ivy cream to soothe her itch.  

Ted and Glenna preparing the meal

Our hungry crew quickly dispenses with twenty-four hamburgers and nearly thirty hot dogs, plus all the cookies and fruit left from lunch.

Ted, who brought hand tools, is busily installing some great signage donated by a father of one of McKenna Farms’ kids.  

Dusk is quickly moving toward darkness. Joyce has brought us her fire pit and some marshmallows. Some of our youth have brought the minis up from the pen, and they’re exercising them in the grassy area near the gazebo. Oh, wait! Now the horse is ahead of one of the young men, so perhaps its horses exercising teenagers. 

Brian, guitar in hand, sits on one of the picnic tables. Christian grabs a bucket from the barn, turns it upside down, and begins drumming. Their duet draws a crowd – good music.  

Joyce giving marshmallow roasting lessons

At the fire pit, Joyce gives instructions on how to toast the perfect marshmallow without burning it. She has several eager pupils, and some even duplicate the golden toasted exterior and soft warm interior that literally melts in your mouth. I’d forgotten how good they were.  

There’s a game of “Hide the Lizard” going on (yes, that lizard) a few feet away. It’s noisy, but I don’t think the lizard is any worse for wear.

Raindrops begin to fall. I smile at Wilma, our weather maker, sitting by the fire pit.  

The little chill brought on by the sprinkles of rain drives some team members inside. A group of teens gathers on the patio, talking with Brian. As I recall from my own youth, there’s nothing like a full day in the outdoors and a quiet evening to bring out the big questions in life.  

Thunder rolls as I zip up my sleeping bag. ~ Glenna Fisher

JACOB'S FUND :: McKenna Farms Spring Mission Trip 2013 (part 3)

Friday: Coffee’s on early. 

Eager to get to work, we opt for doughnuts and fruit for breakfast. 

We step outside to find Tony, one of the young recipients of a ridership from Jacob’s Fund, on a horse in the outdoor arena. He sees us and rides our way to say hello. It’s a thrill for us. We’ve met and talked to Tony several times, and he recognized us right away!

Tony & Pumpkin

On a trailer at the edge of the parking lot are thirty bales of pine straw. We place the bales at intervals around the sides of the farmhouse, don our gloves and begin work. This morning‘s forecast puts the chance of rain tomorrow at seventy percent. Wilma declares that won’t happen. Still, we’re determined to get as much pine straw mulch down as possible.

But Cameron and Landon are here, along with their mom! These twins were silent and Landon was in tears the last time I saw them. Now, they are thriving, thanks to hippotherapy. 



By the time we break for lunch the sun is high and hot. As we eat, McKenna Farm's Director Jessie and I are on our cell phones checking the weather once again. The chance of rain tomorrow is down to sixty percent. Wilma just smiles.

Candace and her mom pull into the parking lot as we finish lunch. You may remember Candace, a teenager who excelled at the Special Equestrian Olympics in 2011 and 2012.  
The Red Thread Promise became aware of her need last summer and later learned that she had lost a major source of support for her therapy. When one of our year-long scholarships became available, Candace was named the newest Jacob’s Fund ridership recipient. 

While Candace saddles up and begins her therapy in the outdoor arena, her mom, Dana, and I chat. Dana shares how Candace's confidence has soared due to her therapeutic riding. She is proud to have mastered so many skills on horseback. Candace has also become more outspoken about kids with different abilities, writing speeches and sharing about her own experience as a child with spina bifida.

Candace atop Hershey Kisses

Wilma has been telling me since we left Ohio “There’s a lot more to mission trips than hammer and nails.” Our conversations with Tony, Cameron, Landon, Melissa, Candace, and Dana have revealed the invisible silken red thread that connects us as a vivid, thrumming-with-life link.

Even in April in an unusually cool spring, the sun, at its zenith in Georgia this Friday, is too hot to work under, so we slow our pace and remain in the shade. Time to check the forecast again; the prospect of eighteen people inside the house with buckets of paint tomorrow is a bit daunting.

Hooray! The chance of rain is now at forty percent! Wilma, not given to bragging, and without even a hint of triumphant smile, simply says again, “It’s not going to rain.”

Finding a shady spot near the barn, Rhonda and I put a newly-sanded door on sawhorses and prime it. The sliding door will be installed at the entrance to the therapy rooms and will keep children receiving therapy from being distracted by activity in the offices and outer rooms.

Back to the pine straw, and in a matter of minutes we’re finished with the planting beds around the house and stand back to survey our handiwork and declare it beautiful. But with just one bale left over, Jessie’s off for another trailer load of pine straw.

All day long McKenna Farms has been alive with children, horses, volunteers, and therapists. The excitement is contagious and energizing. Now, dinner over, horses go back into the barn, the sun dips below the trees, and we slip into easy conversation with Jessie and Joyce, about the kids who come to McKenna Farms, redesigned plans for the parents’ viewing room at the indoor arena, and future mission trip projects.

Nearby, Jessie’s sons, Jackson and Aiden, play while Emma, Joyce’s daughter, who spends many hours each week volunteering at the farm, rides in the increasing dusk. 

Sitting down makes us aware of sore muscles and fatigue. Aiden, four, is ready for bed.  Amid mouth-watering promises of biscuits for breakfast from a local biscuit restaurant that’s sponsoring a fundraiser for McKenna Farms, Jessie and Joyce depart.

Within minutes, we’re showered and ready for bed. As the rest of the crew settles in to sleep, I grab a book and head for the porch, wondering if I can stay awake until the rest of the team shows up.

Though these rolling acres of trees and pasture have held deep meaning for me since the first time I brought Jacob here for hippotherapy. I’ve kept most of those feelings to myself, choosing instead to talk about the effectiveness of this therapy, the dedication of Jessie, her staff and the volunteers, who together keep the farm running and lovingly provide therapy to the disabled children whose lives are changed here.

Members of previous mission trips here have described this place as sacred. It is both healing and cherished, so I believe the description is apt. It certainly resonates deeply in me. 

Now, with the quiet broken only by an occasional whinny, I look out over the outdoor arena. My mind slips back to those times I watched Jacob ride Major as his therapist walked alongside. I smile, seeing him riding backward, wearing what seems like a very big helmet.  

As if unwilling to break the peace that blankets the farm, the first van carrying our fellow team members pulls into the parking area almost soundlessly, followed in a matter of minutes by the second van. I lead the eight youth and three adults to the boy’s and girl’s trailers where they’ll sleep, locate the bathrooms for them, and provide a peanut butter sandwich to one hungry young lady.

In a matter of minutes, the youth have inflated their air mattresses, spread out sleeping bags, and changed into sleeping pants and tee shirts. “Don’t worry about getting up too early,” I tell Brian, our youth pastor. “We’ll need to be well rested.”  

A final weather check shows the forecast for most of Saturday morning at just thirty percent chance of rain. ~ Glenna Fisher

JACOB'S FUND :: McKenna Farms Spring Mission Trip 2013 (part 2)

 

The key to a successful mission trip is preparation, starting as early as possible. That’s what the available literature advises, and it’s good counsel. Every year The Red Thread Promise launches a variety of mission trips, and planning starts early and in great detail. Jacob’s Fund folks and Christ United Methodist Church (CUMC) began planning three months in advance for the April 2013 mission trip to McKenna Farms, always in close contact with Jessie, the farm’s director.

Early on, we lined up a list of projects that needed to be done: staining new fencing around the playground area, pulling weeds, mulching, and sprucing up the Jacob Beachy Sensory Trail after winter had taken its toll.

CUMC’s Youth Group signed on to join us, their added energy and enthusiasm lending an air of renewed excitement to the trip.

Evening has begun to settle quietly over McKenna Farms. Therapists and kids are going through the last exercises, volunteers lead horses from pasture to barn, where they’ll feed them and settle them in for the night.  

Thursday Evening: Moonlight through the Pines

We’re the advance group. Most of the team won’t leave home until after school on Friday.

Jessie (farm director) and Joyce (lead therapist), greet us warmly as, laden with air mattresses and sleeping bags, we make our way to a large therapy room that will serve as home for the next three nights.

CUMC youth, Joyce and Jessie prepping the fire

We’ve been following the weather closely, as has Jessie. All of our planned projects are outdoors, and rain looks imminent for Saturday. With the bulk of our team arriving late Friday night, it seems our flexibility is about to be tested. We won’t be able to finish the fence staining tomorrow, and with Saturday looking wet, we scratch that task off our list.

No problem. When your focus is on serving the two hundred or more children who visit the farm each week, there are always more than enough projects to keep a crew in steady work. While all of the rooms in the trailers were freshly painted, three rooms in the one-hundred-fifty-year-old farmhouse could use a coat of paint.

Minutes after finishing dinner, as a full moon rises over the towering pines bordering the Jacob Beachy Sensory Trail, we’re ready for bed. With bad weather on the horizon, we need to get as much outside work done as we can tomorrow.

Before drifting off to sleep, Wilma, our mission trip expert makes a prediction: it will not rain on Saturday. ~ Glenna Fisher

Praying for good weather!

JACOB'S FUND :: McKenna Farms Spring Mission Trip 2013 (part 1)

We’re leaving for McKenna Farms in Dallas, Georgia, in a few days.

Right now, our mission team from Christ United Methodist Church (Middletown, Ohio) is meeting to go over the details of the trip and introduce mission trips to those who are making foray into the mission field. We quickly run through the basics: where we’re going, what we plan to do while we were there, eating and sleeping arrangements.  

Then questions start popping up like critters in Whac-A-Mole. I soon realize that much of what a mission trip is about can’t be described or predicted. Each trip is different, and team members will bring home a kaleidoscope of new experiences.

Mission trips aren’t for everyone. Hard work, sweat, getting dirty, and less-than-perfect sleeping accommodations are key elements of most trips. Flexibility is absolutely essential. In everything. Add in eight middle schoolers, some of whom have never been as far from home as this weekend will take them and you never know what may happen.

As I look around the crowded conference table, at new young faces and wise, experienced ones, I think, “They’ll be perfect.”

~ Glenna Fisher, Jacob's Fund Director

JACOB'S FUND :: What's so special about a mission trip?

Mission trips. Churches, youth groups, and civic organizations host them as well as non-profits like The Red Thread. Teams work locally, nationally and internationally in soup kitchens, on farms, in hospitals and schools. They get dirty, clean things up, package food, build houses and provide any number of services. 

But why? 
Why go to all of the hassle? 
Why not just write a check? 
That's good enough.
Right?

While raising money for surgeries and medical care is critical to accomplish our mission—providing hope and healing to needy and orphaned children—we feel that relationship building is equally important. It is a component of our programming that is so intertwined with our work serving needy children with disabilities that we can not imagine our organization without it.

Two TRTP volunteers from McKenna Farms mission trip, Spring 2013

On mission trips, ties are strengthened between donors, Red Thread leaders, volunteers, and the families being directly affected by our work. Donors provide the funds for all things necessary to complete the task at hand. Volunteers supply the manpower to do the hands-on work. TRTP team leaders guide the volunteers during the work and facilitate opportunities to meet the children and families being helped. 

Mission trips foster personal connections between: volunteers and children with disabilities; volunteers with TRTP leaders; TRTP leaders with the families being served. These are things that can't be adequately experienced from afar. They require one-on-one contact. 

Through these personal experiences, we see what it's like to live in someone else's shoes for a moment. We see what it is like to have a disability. We then have the opportunity to do something beneficial, to become a direct blessing to a child. Through this process, we grow as human beings. 

And then we share. We share our stories when we come back home. We talk about the people we met and worked with and how they affected our lives. Through mission trips we realize that not only can we GIVE to these children, but we RECEIVE great blessings in return.

That, dear friends, is why we provide these opportunities for TRTP supporters. 

This week, we'll embark on another trip to McKenna Farms. For 3 days, we'll be there, helping out in whatever capacity they need, meeting some of the kids we support, and fellowshipping together. 

In honor of the upcoming journey to Georgia, we invite you to join us for a trip down memory lane through a series of posts about our spring trip from 2013. See the trip through the eyes of Jacob's Fund Director, Glenna, the author of the following posts and our fearless leader for each mission trip in the USA.

JACOB'S FUND :: An open invitation to the farm

Jacob's Fund Director and one of the therapy horses

A Jacob's Fund volunteer staining wood

Can you feel the warmth of the sun?

Can you smell the fresh country air?

Can you hear the horses whinnying?

Are you ready to get your hands dirty?

If not, that time is coming!

The Red Thread team is taking the first mission trip of 2014 to McKenna Farms. We’ll be heading to Dallas, Georgia for a 4-day trip April 24 – 27. We’d like YOU to consider joining us. 

The Jacob Beachy Sensory Trail

The horse barn and temporary sleeping quarters upstairs

The Red Thread team will be spreading love to the kids, meeting the horses, working on the Jacob Beachy Sensory Trail, planting flowers, mulching, weeding and anything else that needs doing. We’ll have the opportunity to meet some of the patients and their families, spend time with some of the therapists, and see the magnificent horses that help provide this healing therapy.

The details

• McKenna Farms is located at 3044 Due West Road, Dallas, Georgia 30157
• Plan to arrive on Thursday, April 24 in the late afternoon or evening. 
• Volunteers will sleep in a combination of therapy buildings, in the farm house or above the barn. 
• Plan to bring your own sleeping bag or air mattress / sheets / blankets, bath towels and toiletries. 
• Meals will be provided all day Friday and all day Saturday. If you have dietary restrictions, just let us know and we’ll accommodate.
• Plan on cool nights and warm days. 
• Horses, hay, dirt, weeds, mulch, paint and wood stain are all part of the mix. Dress accordingly.
• Departure is after breakfast on Sunday, April 27.
• The cost is $100 per participant. 
• Space is limited.

How do I volunteer?
To request an application or learn more, please contact Jacob’s Fund Director, Glenna Fisher at 513.423.0108 or glenna@redthreadpromise.org.

Applications are due April 12, 2014.

We look forward to meeting you in Georgia!

Child receiving therapy

Volunteers bringing in the horses for the night