GREENFIELD — Ginger, the resident donkey at the local Agape Therapeutic Riding stables, seemed relaxed and carefree as she nuzzled up to guests at the Greenfield barn last week.
Little does she know how hard the humans behind the nonprofit have worked to keep the riding service afloat.
Like most nonprofits, Agape Therapeutic Riding Resources has taken a financial hit since the coronavirus pandemic hit in mid-March.
The organization serves people with over 60 different diagnoses — from anxiety to down syndrome to autism — allowing them to work with horses to manage some of their challenges.
Agape lost roughly $200,000 from March to early June, said Agape’s executive director, Stephanie Amick.
“We had no programming revenue coming in for three months, then we also had to cancel our fundraising events,” she said.
“Prior to this year we operated with just over a million-dollar operating budget. When you take into account along with being closed multiple months in a row, that’s $200,000 in lost revenue.”
The nonprofit canceled its annual golf outing as well as another scheduled fundraiser this year.
It’s also lost out on income from local schools that hire Agape to come in and work with students. The organization also takes miniature horses to provide therapy at senior centers and adult daycare programs.
Amick still plans to host Agape’s biggest annual fundraiser this year — the Boots and Bowties gala — to be held Oct. 9 at the Crane Bay Event Center in downtown Indianapolis. The nonprofit is actively seeking table sponsors and auction items for the dinner auction, which typically draws a big crowd, she said.
Not hosting the fundraiser would take an even greater hit on the nonprofit’s bottom line, said Amick. If the event must be canceled, a silent auction will still be held online.
When COVID-19 forced Agape to suspend riding classes, the nonprofit temporarily re-homed some of its horses — allowing volunteers and friends to care for them during the height of the pandemic.
“We ended up having to consolidate our three locations down to one,” said Amick, who said the negative impact was more than just financial.
When the therapeutic riding services shut down, the separation negatively impacted both horses and riders, she said.
“I think it’s been hard for everybody. A lot of children who have special needs like a routine, they like a schedule. When that got interrupted due to COVID and they couldn’t come out to the barn once a week, that made it challenging for them and their families. And we certainly missed seeing them at the barn,” Amick said.
The horses were ill-affected, too. “The horses like to feel like they have a purpose. They like to do therapy, and they got a very long vacation from getting to do that,” she said.
As of last week, Agape’s Greenfield location was running classes at 50% capacity. Site director Becca Spitzig hosted a Discovery Camp for riders in July, when more than 60 campers participated.
Both the camp and ongoing therapy sessions at the Greenfield site have been tougher to facilitate since COVID hit, Spitzig said.
“We’ve had to have fewer people in each class, and we’ve got to take longer between classes to clean and sanitize all the equipment,” she said.
“It takes a lot of time to sanitize all the helmets, the saddles, the reigns. The only thing we don’t sanitize is the horses,” she joked.
While class sizes are still restricted, the Greenfield program has room for more riders to join.
Amick encourages families of those who qualify to go online or call to learn more about the organization. “We’d welcome them with open arms and would love to have them come out and see if it’s a good fit for them,” she said.
Although the pandemic still looms and the rest of the year is shrouded in uncertainty, Amick said that Agape will press on and do its best to serve its riders and their families.
“We are in a really good position. We’ve had a lot of wonderful donors, and the Hancock County Community Foundation has been super supportive,” she said. “We feel like we’re in a good, sustainable place to continue to move forward and get back to rebuilding post-COVID.”
