Dan McGowan 9/17/2011

The event I attended was the volunteer service at ARCH, or Atlantic Riding Center for
Health. I went on the day of service on September 10 2011. For me the
experience gave me a variety of things including hands on work but also an
inside view as to how ARCH helps people and what they focus on as a group. ARCH
is a horse stable that works with disabled children and other less fortunate
people to help them ride as a way to relax and learn basic skills. They are a
non-profit organization, and are in desperate need of funding. My assignment at
Arch was to help clean the grounds for a fundraiser they were holding the next
week. This was a onetime event where I volunteered my services but there is the
option to pursue additional trips over should someone be interested.
While volunteering I worked with the shift advisor Dave. It was an interesting experience as Dave gave insight to how things were run and how life was like working with horses every day. He loves what he does and it was refreshing to find someone who was so
passionate about the work they do. He understands that with a group such as
ARCH there are shortages on equipment and that sometimes the tasks at hand are
daunting because the group cannot afford needed material. But he never talks
down about the group, it’s just understood that it needs to be done one way or
another. While we worked on such things as making a wooden bridge, or cleaning
up branches from Hurricane Irene Dave explained more to me about actually
working with horses and how he wants to be able to do this his whole life.
Working at ARCH was similar to my summer job where I work at a horse farm as a hand. It was all very similar to me, because around a farm there is always something that needs
to be done. The days are never the same and sometimes you are faced with challenges
you never expected to come across. I found the activity rewarding because
whenever I physically get involved it feels like I accomplished something and
that my day was put to good use. The people at ARCH are a  extremely nice and caring group and it was an honor to be able to work with them for a day and learn about their lives and ambitions for ARCH.