Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

[RC] Charity Begins at Home (Part 2) - Linda B. Merims

If I want to join a local "saddle club" that raises money for
MSPCA or animal shelters or the local fire house charity,
there are dozens already out there:  Hanson, Bristol County
Horsemen, Acquidneck Island, Tanheath...
 
I join BSTRA because it is doing what no other "saddle club"
is doing:  organizing to further the interests of horsemen.
 
Does the Massachusetts Audubon Society re-direct its funds to
outside charities?  No.  It uses its money to hire lobbyists who
write the environmental legislation that will shortly
control how we access state forests.
 
Does New England Mountain Bike Association (NEMBA)
re-direct its funds to charities?  No.  It uses its money to
buy land in Hopkinton so that mountain bikers can continue
to ride on it.
 
Horsemen have got to start thinking the same way.  We
have to become mature thinkers, as sophisticated in
our approach to defending our interests as our
recreational allies--and opponents.
 
When we get a dollar in the treasury, we need to think how
best to use that dollar for ourselves.
 
Here are some ideas of what to do with the Wompatuck
ride's proceeds that show how this new mindset
works:
 
- Give the proceeds to BSTRA's Southern New England
  Trunkline Trail Rt 146A bridge fund.
 
Or, since that isn't even in SE Massachusetts, how about
these more local ideas:
 
- Start a land acquisition fund.  When a local land trust
  needs funds to make a purchase, HERD can kick in with
  real $$ to help the cause, and thus ensure horse access
  to the land.  $1000 in cold hard cash works a lot better
  than hours of pleading with unsympathetic land managers.
 
- Give it to the Friends of Assawompsett Pond to build a horse
  bridge over one of the water-crossings they are so concerned
  about. 
 
- Give it to the new Association for Rural Middleboro to fund
  improvements to horse trails.
 
Or, thinking of national efforts:
 
- Give it to the Equestrian Land Conservation Resource
 
- Give it to EnviroHorse to help fund research that demonstrates
  that horses are not a hazard to drinking water sources
 
These are just ideas.  Come up with your own.  But remember:
 
Charity has got to start happening at home!
 
Linda B. Merims
Massachusetts, USA