The Harness Horse Youth Foundation recently held its annual meeting of trustees and members at Diamond Creek Farm in Wellsville, Pennsylvania. The morning consisted of a planning session/power point presentation about revenue stream development and summer program modifications led by dynamic facilitator Christy Landwehr from Aurora, Colorado.
The afternoon session included the regular business meeting and committee breakout sessions. The following officers were elected for 2019: Adam Bowden, president; Corey Callahan, vice president; Nicola Abrams, treasurer; Allison Conte, secretary. Rounding out the remaining trustees and staff in attendance were Jennifer Connor, Karen Craft, Suzanne D’Ambrose, Olivia Kimelman, Caroline Vazquez as well as executive director Ellen Taylor and office manager David Janes.
After his election, Adam expressed, “I am honoured to be president of HHYF and to be a part of a group tasked with being the leader of education and introduction of the sport of harness racing to the next generation.
“We are assembling a board of trustees that understands the importance to do right by the youth and we hope to wake up the apathy that we all fall into by introducing more participation from all aspects of the industry. HHYF has been blessed by continued generosity from a small group of industry players but we will continue to strive to include more and actively seek participation from everyone who shares our love of the past, present and future of harness racing.”
Adjustments to the 2019 summer schedule will include more one-day events, the creation of three-day programs along with improvements to the upper level five-day leadership event. Registration fees have been revised and are now comparable to other riding camps and lessons. In addition, a ‘grant’ process was established to assist with travel expenses for those young people who may need financial assistance to attend. Further details and the complete schedule will be available in the near future.
The Harness Horse Youth Foundation is a charitable 501(c)3 organization dedicated to providing young people and their families educational opportunities with harness horses in order to foster the next generation of participants and fans. The foundation has been making a difference in young people's lives since 1976; its programs include interactive learning experiences with racehorses as well as offering scholarships and creating and distributing educational materials relating to harness racing.
For more information on opportunities through HHYF, or to support its mission, head to hhyf.org.
(HHYF)