We’re excited to share our latest Saddles in Service Newsletter with you and are certain you’ll enjoy reading all of the happenings on the ranch!
November 2020 Newsletter PDF
A message from Tammy, our CEO
What a whirlwind October was for all of us at the ranch! We started the month setting up for an unexpected wedding, had a tragic fire in the middle, and ended the month with a week of formal training. Our son’s wedding was supposed to take place at Viejas but at the last minute, Viejas changed the contract due to Covid 19. So we quickly pulled together and put on the most beautiful Fall wedding with over 325 pumpkins! This worked out perfect as 100 new people learned first hand what we do here at SIS. Through that, we also gained a new partner, American Warrior Initiative.
As many of you know, we had a fire two weeks ago here at the ranch. Our very first veteran and ranch hand lives here at SIS. He has lived here in his trailer for the past 2 ½ years. His trailer went up in flames and he lost everything. He was working on getting insurance but unfortunately did not have it in place when the fire happened. The American Warrior Initiative was informed of SIS and what happened with Joe’s trailer by the Chaplain’s wife (who officiated our son’s wedding) and by the next day we were informed they were donating $18,000 to purchase a trailer for Joe to continue living in. We also had an anonymous donor that added $10,000 for Joe’s trailer. We found and purchased a trailer for Joe to continue living here at his home. I am so thankful for all the love and support that so many people showed during this extremely stressful time for Joe. He lost all of his Army things, his Ranger beret, his uniform and his medals. Yes, they can be replaced but his Beret that he wore meant so very much to him. Joe has gone through a lot this year as he lost a battle buddy to suicide a few months back. I am so grateful that he has all of us at SIS and that we have him!
We are ending the month with a week of formal training for all of our SIS volunteers! We have updated our Standard Operating Procedures and Terms & Conditions. We also went through our Horsemanship Program so everyone is consistent with our program for Heroes and Horses. It was extremely successful!
As we move into the Holiday Season I want to express how thankful I am for all of our volunteers, heroes, horses, donors and all of our supporters! You make a difference every day in the lives of our Heroes and Horses!
Tammy
