Johnathon, a true winner, wearing his medal, with his therapeutic riding instructor, Bryan There are a lot of things about Johnathon that make him a winner, says Bryan, his therapeutic riding instructor:                 ·          Exceptional listening skills ·          Eagerness to excel ·          Willingness and desire to learn new things ·          Having a sweet and kind disposition ·          Being motivated by his own perception of success ·          His positive outlook ·          Character When we learned that Johnathon had won the medal for Focus at McKenna Farms Annual End of Year Horseshow at McKe...

I’m wearing a long red fleece jacket on this cold day. If you haven’t donned your red duds yet, take time to do that when you’ve read this post because today is WEAR RED DAY! Jacob February is Heart Month. Many of you know the story of our Jacob, in whose memory Jacob’s Fund exists. Jacob was born with multiple heart defects and underwent several open heart and other surgeries. It was after his last surgery that he contracted MRSA in the hospital and died six weeks later. What you may not know is that severe heart defects can result in developmental delays and impairments. When Jacob began hippotherapy at McKenna Farms in 2006 at age two, he hadn’t yet begun walking. Once he began hippotherapy (therapy using the horse as a tool), he walked, and ran, and his speech and vocabulary expanded immensely. I’ll never forget when he asked, after seeing me wear one, “Grandma, can I have a pedometer?” Uh, yes! I clipped it to his diaper. Since we founded Jacob’s Fund, we’ve...

Jaxon, four years old This smiling four-year-old is Jaxon. “Our sweet boy  . . . truly a miracle and blessing,” says his mom, Brittany. Jaxon was born at twenty-three weeks. He weighed one pound, four ounces, so small he could be held in one hand. Jaxon spent the first six months of his life in intensive care. Baby Jaxon born four months prematurely Those are the statistics, but they’re not the sum of Jaxon’s life. He’s a pre-kindergartener with a love for horses, and horses are what are helping Jaxon overcome some of the developmental delays a preemie like him has to deal with: speech difficulties, fine and gross motor skill delays, and developmental delays. Jaxon has had multiple eye surgeries, and continues to work on balance and muscle strength. It’s exhausting work for a little guy. He’s worked hard in clinical settings, but on a horse . . . well, therapy delivered while a child is riding a horse isn’t work - it’s fun! Underneath all the fun, though...

 Moshe just after arriving at his new home    Moshe, 2nd day at home December 1, 2002. A little boy, not quite a year old, finds himself in a new home. Linda, his new mom, bathed him and then rocked him all night that first night. He looked frightened and wary.   Moshe was born prematurely to a birth mother who used drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. He, in turn, absorbed those same poisons in his mother’s womb. He was diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome in 2005. He’s been diagnosed as “mildly intellectually retarded.”   “I was not sure that Moshe would walk or talk but I did everything I could to help him . . .   “ She has two other children. All are adopted, and all have special needs. Moshe, cowboy at heart Today Moshe is “my sports/gadget/techie kid.” He’s good at math, though he needs to improve in reading to be at grade level. Moshe loves sports despite his medical challenges. He’s also his mom’s “natural born ...

This letter brought me to a tear-filled standstill.   In the midst of a busy spring and summer for Jacob’s Fund ( thanks to you, we’re providing more Jacob’s Fund riderships than ever before!)   We’d slipped into a flurry of activity without having time to let each child’s individual story sink in. We have a request – do we have an application? How about the necessary documentation? Did we have a conversation with the parent? The therapist? While processing requests never becomes simply a matter of checking all the boxes, the need to do things right (and right now) with as many as twenty-five children current Jacob’s Fund Kids has kept us hustling. David and Applejack   It’s overwhelming to think about the number of children with desperate needs to learn to walk, feed themselves, write their names, speak, and interact with others.     The process takes time, but we move as quickly as possible, because, as Georgia’s program to that pro...

Eli We always want you to know what we are doing at Jacob’s Fund with the money you donate to provide hippotherapy and therapeutic riding to children with developmental impairments whose families are unable to pay for using a horse as a therapy tool.  But we feel that knowing why we do it is easily as important. Visitors to our site, Jacobsfund.blogspot.com and our Facebook page, Jacob Beachy Fund, know that we carry in our heart our beautiful grandson, Jacob Noah Beachy, and it fills us beyond measure. It is his spirit, his kindness, his love that we want to pass on to other children. Because he loved hippotherapy at McKenna Farms, Jacob’s Fund covers the cost of using horses in therapy, which is not covered by private or public insurance, at McKenna Farms and other therapy centers There is a reason Jacob loved McKenna Farms, where he rode “his” horse, Major. Members of our Mission Teams from Christ United Methodist Church express their feeling that McKenna Farms is a s...

Isaiah is very much a climber Isaiah is seven, a camera shy, agile, and very much loved answer to a prayer. “Every year on my birthday I prayed for a child,” his mother, Candace, says. And on her birthday, two little boys came to live with her and her husband, a former Marine.  Isaiah was two when he and his brother were placed in their care. Their parents, relatives, were drug addicted, and Isaiah’s babyhood had been spent in a baby seat placed in front of the television. Neglected, they were removed by children’s services and placed in foster care. Isaiah was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and was developmentally far behind. Candace and her husband sought help for Isaiah soon after he arrived home. He began receiving therapy.  In 2013 he came to McKenna Farms. Now he’s thriving with the combination of therapy and love and care at home. “He surprises us a lot. Yesterday he sat down with a book and began reading “A is for apple,” said Can...