2009 In Review
A grateful parent whose daughter receives therapy with Therapeutic Riding of the Ozarks wrote to us saying, “My seven year old daughter has multiple disabilities, both physical and cognitive in nature. She has been receiving hippotherapy with TRO… and she has made so much progress! Her core strength, balance, and coordination have improved greatly, which in turn improves her walking and mobility skills. We live in Branson, so we drive an hour to and from hippotherapy every week because we believe the benefits from the program are absolutely necessary.”
Crosslines Director, Pam Copling, remembers talking with a Crosslines client who was devastated by recent events in her life, leaving this mother-of-three with no income… “She spent a week just shellshocked and really in denial of the situation. By then the last of the money was gone and so was the food in her pantry. My attention turned to her youngest son (her other two were in school) and he told me he was three years old and that he was hungry. I walked around the corner and found a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread donated by a bakery that morning. I carried the loaf back to the child who immediately tried to open the twist tie. I helped him with the twist tie and he ate a slice of bread so fast it seemed to disappear. By the time the Crosslines volunteer was finished with this client’s paperwork, he had eaten three big slices of bread.”
Ambassadors for Children Director, Sondra Uzzell, relates a story of a local teen whose world was in desperate need of hope… “Annie (not her real name) is a 15-yearold girl living in Springfield with her foster mom. At the time Annie was placed in foster care, the State only provided $250 for her clothing for an entire year. As a teen girl, she needed additional clothing and a winter coat, so she has visited The Kid’s Clothes Closet 2 times this year and has received clothing, a coat, underwear, socks, haircut coupons and shoe gift cards. Annie’s Caseworker is also “adopted” through the Adopt-a- Caseworker program. Her Caseworker’s Partner Group has helped provide for some of her other needs and is currently working to get a few nice Christmas gifts for Annie to open on Christmas morning. A member of the Partner Group also happens to be a volunteer tutor through our Tutoring Program. When she heard from the Caseworker that Annie has been struggling in math and science, the volunteer readily
agreed to tutor Annie one afternoon per week, in addition to the other foster child she has already been tutoring. Annie continues to work “mighty hard” during her tutoring sessions and the extra help just might keep her from dropping out of school altogether.”
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Executive Director
Rev. Mark Struckhoff
417.862.3586
Email: mstruckhoff@ccozarks.org
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