Partnership will offer opportunity to those with special needs
Crossroads program to give people with disabilities employment, volunteer experience

Employee Kate Bukovec, 16, volunteer coordinator at Riding High Farm in Upper Freehold, walks Hope, a rescued quarterhorse. Partnership will PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff

UPPER FREEHOLD — A unique community day and employment experience awaits the participants of Crossroads, a new program for people with special needs who have completed high school.

The program, which is now accepting enrollees, is a partnership between the township's Riding High Farm, a nonprofit organization that provides adaptive recreational and therapeutic horseback riding for special needs children, and Allies Inc., Hamilton, a nonprofit organization for people with disabilities.

The goal of Crossroads, according to its literature, is to offer participants a creative way to build positive relationships through equine care, horticultural therapy and volunteerism. Crossroads will offer an opportunity to learn these employment skills from experts in these fields at the actual sites in which they occur.

Participants in the equine program, to be offered at Riding High Farm, will be offered a hands-on experience in all aspects of equine care, horse stable and equipment maintenance in a supportive environment.

Jessica Shenski, barn manager at the nonprofit Riding High Farm, grooms Sunny, a Haflinger. Barn management skills is one part a new program, Crossroads, offered at Riding High in conjunction with another nonprofit, Allies Inc.

The agriculture/horticultural program will offer participants the opportunity to learn farming techniques, to have access to horticultural therapy and to be part of a business that brings produce to market. Participants will work on the farm and collaborate with local farmers markets. The farming curriculum has been designed by Rutgers certified master gardeners.

The opportunity to do volunteer work in a food bank, day care/preschool center and a clothing-recycling program established by the Allentown Presbyterian Church will also be available.

The people behind the scenes have been working hard to launch the program.

Linda Barton, who is with the Agriculture Program, noted, "It has been a long, physically challenging journey from a dream to a reality. The joy of getting into the field early in the morning, wondering if it would rain yet again, made all the hard work fun. When we harvested the first lettuce this week, I knew we really were on our way

Being part of the Horticulture Program is very satisfying to Mary Anne McMillan. "As a master gardener, trained by and working closely with Rutgers University, it is so gratifying to put organic and sustainable gardening practices into practical reality, McMillan said. 'It is a tribute to Allies Inc. that they insist on an environmentally sensitive program. We all need to work together to assure the healthy future of planet Earth. Many thanks go to my fellow master gardener Linda Barton for all her dedicated hard work as we created this wonderful program."

Amy Watts, of Allies Inc., is pleased with the choices that the Crossroads program offers.

"I am really excited to be able to offer an opportunity for individuals with disabilities a chance to make some real choices about what they want to do during a program day," said Watts. "Our goal is to be a truly communityintegrated program so the residents in Allentown and neighboring communities get the wonderful experience of getting to know the people we support. I would like to offer my deepest thanks to Robyn Struz at Riding High Farm for all her dedication to this project, Allentown Presbyterian Church for their willingness to work with us, and most especially our volunteers. Robert Swazenkamp at Kube Pak has made an amazing amount of donations of plants, time and resources to this project, and we could not have done it without his generosity."

Crossroads has been approved by the state Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) and can be funded by a Self-Directed Day Service (SDDS) or Real Life Choices (RLC) budgets, Watts said. Activities will be offered Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with an attendance minimum of two days per week. The daily rate is $80.

For more information on Crossroads, contact Robyn Struz at Riding High Farm, 609- 259-3884, ext. 3, or Amy Watts at Allies Inc., 609-689-0136, ext. 144.