“The High Hopes Way”
You may be very experienced with horses, in an office, organizing events, or working with individuals with disabilities. We value your experience, but you may hear staff or our volunteers ask that you do something “the High Hopes way.” The reason for this is simple. With over 650 volunteers helping High Hopes deliver our services each year, we have to have a common way of doing things. Common terminology that we all understand, common ways of interacting with our participants and other volunteers, and consistency for our horses are very important in managing our daily tasks. We strive to emulate industry best-practice, and we achieve consistency through doing things “the High Hopes way.” If you have a question about this policy or the way in which you are being asked to do something, please ask a member of staff.
Consistency
High Hopes relies heavily on its volunteer support to keep the program running. Volunteers make up 96% of the workforce at High Hopes. Because High Hopes relies so heavily on volunteers, consistency is extremely important.
- Consistent sidewalkers build relationships with their riders and are key to helping their riders with skill progression.
- Consistent horse leaders, barn help, and feeders also build connections with the horses and provide support for our horses before, during, and after the lessons.
When a volunteer cancels, High Hopes needs to find an appropriate substitute in class, the office, or barn. Please review our cancellation policy in the Guidelines and Policies section of the General Orientation manual (please ask for a copy if you don’t have one). We ask that you sign up for the volunteer activities that you know that you can manage consistently and that you give as much notice as possible if you need to cancel or change your slot.