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It’s
Easy To Help...
CALL
720.565.3898
Boulder
County Partners
1430 Nelson Road,
Suite 206
Longmont, CO 80501
303.772.1411
partners@bcpartners.org
www.bcpartners.org
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The
13-year-old with straw-colored hair and topaz-blue eyes quietly
talks of "special places" they’ve gone and "new
experiences" they’ve shared – like working horses
in a dusty corral on a rise near the eastern edges of Boulder.
Like lunch at Old Chicago, or a trip to Rocky Mountain National
Park. Maybe a hike on a warm, moonlit night, or a good book read
together on a cold, dark one.
"Because
Linda’s not my mom, it’s just different,"
the young girl says, gently.
Like many of the 125 or so kids in the Boulder County Partners
youth mentoring program, she’s been through "rough
patches," according to the staff here.
Many factors contribute to troubled times for kids who look
a lot like yours: School. Single-parent homes. Low incomes.
Abuse in all its forms. |
Click on image for larger picture |
So
"junior partners," kids, spend time with "senior
partners" – adults who commit about three hours a week
for a year.
Together, they do things many families take for
granted: Like a trip to the movies, or maybe trying to catch one
of six spirited horses – many themselves former victims of
abuse, neglect and other troubles – playfully cavorting inside
a pine-rail pen on a hot summer day.
Amanda says outings like this have helped her overcome her depression.
Try accomplishing that alone when you’re 14. With divorced
parents. When half the family now lives nearer to Rodeo Drive than
some makeshift Colorado rodeo.
But with help from Michelle, a carefully matched adult partner,
even rough patches get a little easier. Not necessarily easy. Just
easier. Trust grows. Respect builds.
After two and a half years as partners, when they stand together,
the manner is easy. The space Amanda and Michelle share, even among
1,000-pound mustangs, is comfortable. They talk. Their shoulders
support one another. You know, like two horses nipping at the same
tuft of grass – half leaning, half supporting. Both stronger
for that moment in time.
Trainers say horses reflect their handlers’ feelings. Rusty,
the horse they’ve roped and are casually walking, can sense
the bond. He can feel the commitment. This partnership works.
Meanwhile, Singapore, a gentlemanly horse with a straw-colored mane,
is within earshot as Linda describes a goal she and her partner
have set for two years out.
"We’re going to drive to California so she can see the
ocean," Linda says, as her young partner’s blue eyes
sparkle.
Except for the wind, you can almost hear two sun-baked horses think
it: Howdy, partner.
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