On October 21, nearly 50 volunteers from Tauck World of Giving partnered with the HomeFront program of Stamford to help transform Pegasus Farm's sensory trail and build cavalettis for the arena.
Tauck is a Norwalk-based travel company whose philanthropic division, Tauck World of Giving, is committed to affecting change and making a difference in the local community and places Tauck travels to around the world. Its goals are to raise awareness, financial support and donations of service and materials, as well as to inspire Tauck's employees to give back in a meaningful way. Tauck considered several area organizations and selected Pegasus as its primary volunteering opportunity based on its strong interest in our mission.
HomeFront, an independent program which was formerly part of AmeriCares, is a community-based, volunteer-driven housing and property repair organization. HomeFront was interested in piloting a new corporate partners program this year and teamed up with Tauck on their plans to volunteer at Pegasus Farm.
As the slide show below demonstrates, the volunteers spent a day building a set of blue-and-white Pegasus cavalettis for the arena and developing three activity stations on the sensory trail: the Herb Garden and "Scent Boxes" station, the Woodland Village station, and the Snake Hill Steering station. They also groomed a large portion of the sensory trail and laid down tons of fresh cedar mulch.
Mounted at rider height, the Scent Boxes will be filled with a variety of items for students to discover and smell, such as citrus, mint or floral. Further along the trail are five Woodland Village "houses": a castle, log cabin, schoolhouse, townhouse and barn constructed by our friends at Green Chimneys and handpainted by our own Melissa Merendino. Also mounted at rider height, the houses will contain objects and photos for students to touch, identify and match up with the many life-like woodland creatures Tauck placed on rocks, logs and tree trunks around the village.
The Snake Hill Steering station consists of a series of interconnected paths with varied grades and footing, as well as real-life corresponding road signs such as "Whoa," "Narrow Bridge" and "Speed Bump Ahead." Staff and volunteers have already begun introducing our therapy horses to all the new trail stations, and they seem to be loving them!
Pegasus owes our deepest gratitude to HomeFront staff members Sean O'Brien, Lou Valente and Fletcher Watton; Tauck staff members Roni Goldberg and Dave Hardisty; and the dozens of hardworking and talented volunteers of Tauck!
Now, enjoy the show!
