Almost everyone loves horses, and teenage girls even more so. That’s where CORRAL Riding Academy, an equine therapy-focused nonprofit, comes into play for adolescent girls in high-risk situations. CORRAL offers a long-term, holistic program of equine therapy and education for individuals referred by their school counselor, a therapist, the court system, or those who self-refer after becoming aware of the program; there are various pathways to access the program. At St. Francis, Donna Schwede leads a ministry that supports CORRAL’s efforts in the broader community. “So the focus,” says Donna, “because CORRAL is a separate organization, is to support CORRAL through work days at each of their farms.” She clarifies, “There are efforts that CORRAL does, and there are opportunities to volunteer with CORRAL that are not what we set up through the church. So if you want to volunteer as a driver or a tutor or to provide food, you do that directly through CORRAL.”
“There’s a community work day at each of the farms, and they’re on different Saturdays.” Those looking to help on these workdays can find opportunities in the weekly St. Francis bulletin. There are two farms, one in Cary, with workdays typically on the third Saturday of the month, and one in Raleigh, with workdays typically on the second Saturday. “The work days are opportunities for people in the St. Francis community to come out and support the farm by doing chores around the farm, and helping with different aspects of what it takes to run a horse farm.” Mercy Camp, the Faith Formation summer program at St. Francis, came out last summer. “Mercy Camp came out and dragged in hay bales,” says Donna, “and I know that on the staff workday last year, a group of staff members went out to the Raleigh farm and did some work, including helping to fill in a ditch to allow the building of a new facility. So it’s more those sorts of things that are the parts that we are doing on the church side.”
Donna also enjoys asking the ministries at St. Francis to provide direct assistance to the girls. “I try to reach out to different ministries at St. Francis to see if they want to come out as a ministry.” Donna had the prayer shawl ministry come out to talk to the girls about the work they do in ministry and taught the girls how to crochet. “I hope ultimately that they’re going to come back,” adds Donna, “and we’re going to continue that to try to get the girls to make their own prayer shawl to have out at the farm.” The women’s ministry also presented a mini version of their ‘Living Your Wildly Imperfect Life’ retreat to the girls. Rosemary Czejkowski discussed some of the reflections from that with the girls.”
CORRAL Riding Academy is a faith-based ministry, but it’s not specifically Catholic. “They always say grace before lunch,” says Donna, “and they do a Bible study on Saturday mornings.” Other churches from different denominations support them, making it a very interfaith effort. “We started at the Cary Farm because Tim Fasano was doing his internship out there for his master’s in social work,” remembers Donna. “He was out there, and he said, ‘Hey, this aligns with our faith, and so maybe we can make this a ministry?’ Now, here we are!”
To learn more and volunteer as an individual or as part of another St. Francis ministry, for a workday, or to share your ministry on one of the farms, please contact Donna at donna.schwede@gmail.com. You can also contact the CORRAL Riding Academy and fill out the interest form. You will then be sent their virtual volunteer orientation, which takes approximately an hour.