June Volunteer of the Month

Mrs. L

Background
Mrs. L currently teaches two sign language classes at LoveWay.

Time volunteering
She began volunteering in October 2009

Why she began to volunteer
She likes horses, although she doesn’t know a lot about them. She thought this would be a good place to learn. She also wanted a chance to share her knowledge of sign language with people who could benefit from it.

Favorite thing about LoveWay
Mrs. L's favorite thing about LoveWay is the friendliness of the people here. She says everyone cares about what they are doing, which isn’t the case at every organization. She really enjoys spending time here and feels that LoveWay is a peaceful place to be.

Favorite Horse
She has two favorites-Sam and Josie. She likes Josie because she likes to hear people talk and Mrs. L likes to talk to the horses when she’s in the barn.

First memory of LoveWay
She came to LoveWay interested in learning about horses and sharing her knowledge of sign language.

In her spare time
Mrs. L likes to read all types of books in her spare time.

May Volunteer of the Month

Charlie Osborn Background
Charlie grew up in Goshen where he lived for
27 years until he joined the Navy. After serving
for four years, he returned to the area and
currently lives in Elkhart as he has for the
past 30 years.

Time volunteering
He started volunteering in January of 2009.

Why he began to volunteer
Charlie says his friend and one of LoveWay’s current volunteers Jim Baxter encouraged him come out and see what we were about. He says he’s always enjoyed working with kids and thought it would be a good experience.

Favorite thing about LoveWay
His favorite thing about LoveWay is the love of the kids. He likes seeing them progress and having fun too. He also enjoys getting to know all the horses.

Favorite Horse
Charlie says it is a tie between Spike and Shanna for his favorite horse.

First memory of LoveWay
He anticipated having lots of fun on his first day at LoveWay and Charlie says it has been a fun experience for him so far.

In his spare time
When not helping in class, participating in our sign language class, or grooming horses and cleaning stalls here at LoveWay, Charlie also volunteers at the Elkhart General Hospital as a Red Coat. He likes to ride his bike and watch educational TV too.

Leading with Feeling

LoveWay is beginning a new program called "Leading with Feeling" for groups that want to work on team building.

Participants will learn how working with horses can teach you to be a stronger leader in the workforce. Horses are fantastic at reading body language and can determine the ability of the person working with them. They are outstanding mirrors of the person training them and can help teach new skills and techniques that will cross over into any area. By tuning into ourselves, and making changes with our attitude and skills, we can learn how to become a strong yet tactful leader. This is a ropes course, a team building exercise and a great way of learning in an outside of the box environment. The class will cover trust issues, how to apply pressure, taking the time it takes, and how to tune into body language. The horses will be the teachers and Amanda Pierce will guide the program.

The class will run around 5 hours long, and can be customized to the group of people that you are sending. A consultation with Amanda will be included to talk about any questions you may have and to properly prepare you for this exciting opportunity. Lunch is included and we will schedule breaks.
The instructor for the course Amanda Pierce started riding at the age of 10. She spent her childhood on horseback and moved from Indiana to California at the age of 16. In California she worked with many top west coast horseman, and she was able to see how large top notch horse facilities were run. She took a one year apprecticeship program in stable management to pursue her passion full time. From there she managed a team of 22 polo ponies for a full season in New Zealand working with a professional polo player. Working with the horses were always a high priority, but Amanda soon began to realize that you had to be able to manage the owners as well. In this line of business you must be able to work with the people as well as the horses.

Upon returning to the midwest, Amanda worked in manufacturing, management and sales. She worked her way up from the bottom, so she has a unique perspective as to what it is like to be on both ends of the workforce. She believes that a good leader is an effective communicator, and that in the current era that we live, people do not practice these skills. Her emphasis is to never stop learning and always try to understand that every action will produce a reaction.

Amanda resides in Union Michigan with her husband and business partner Terry Pierce, and two sons Carter and Satchel. She runs a small private horse facility and teaches private lessons in practical horsemanship on and off farm. She takes lessons herself and enjoys her horse and mule. In her free time she runs with her family, and enjoys skiing in the off season with her boys.

April Volunteer of the Month

Jim Yoder

Background
Jim grew up near SR 120 where he attended a
one room country schoolhouse. He was in the
1st class to graduate from York Elementary
School. He currently lives in Goshen with his
wife. He retired from Troyer Products after 20 years.

Time volunteering
He started volunteering in January of 2006.

Why he began to volunteer
He was looking for something to keep him busy and knew that LoveWay needed help. He thought it was a worthwhile organization and decided to give it a try.

Favorite thing about LoveWay
Jim says his favorite thing about LoveWay are the kids. They are all very special and he likes to see them having such a good time.

Favorite Horse
Sam is Jim’s favorite horse at LoveWay because he doesn’t have many bad habits. He usually does what you tell him to do. He also likes all the hair that Sam has.

First memory of LoveWay
Jim remembers being eager to get started and wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. He’d had horses most of his life but didn’t really have much experience with kids except for his own.

In his spare time
He likes to hunt, fish, and mushroom hunt. He also likes engines a lot and has two antique tractors: 1939 John Deere B and 1940 Farmall A. He likes spending time with his wife, 3 children, and his grandchildren.

March Volunteer of the Month

LaVon Bontrager

Background
LaVon grew up in the Millersburg-Goshen area and is the oldest of 7 kids.

Time volunteering
He started to volunteer with us at the beginning of March.

Why he began to volunteer
He likes being and working outside and likes being around horses. His girlfriend is one of our class volunteers and suggested that he come to LoveWay and see if we had anything he could help with.

Favorite thing about LoveWay
LaVon says he likes having somewhere to go with a purpose. He gets bored just sitting around at home and enjoys being able to come here and be outside and work with the horses while helping others.

Favorite Horse
He likes all the LoveWay horses but says if he had to pick his favorite; it would be a tie between Sam and Lexi.

First memory of LoveWay
He says he was ready to get to work on all the things that needed to be done here.

In his spare time
When he’s not at LoveWay, which really isn’t that often, LaVon says he likes to catch up on sleep. He also likes to go fishing and ride horses as well.

February Volunteer of the Month

Stephanie Eyer

Background
Stephanie was born and raised in the Goshen area. She currently lives with her mom, dad, brother, and dog.
Time volunteering
She started helping with our program
in March 2004.
Why she began to volunteer
Steph saw an ad in the local newspaper about
LoveWay. Since she couldn’t have horses of her own she came here to get her horse fix.
Favorite memory about LoveWay
Getting the privilege of dumping wheel barrows and putting lime in the stalls was a big deal for Stephanie. She liked getting the added responsibility and the ability to help wherever she could. She also used to enjoy brushing the horses’ mane and tails-which she used to do for hours when she first started.
Favorite Horse
She said it’s a toss-up between her favorite two horses. When she first came she was assigned to work with Skeeter and she became very fond of him and worked with him every week. She also liked working with Nibbles because since she was blind, the horse was very trusting. It was also the horse that Steph first learned to ride.
First memory of LoveWay
Stephanie remembers working with Skeeter who was blind in one eye. The first day she was here a schooling rider taught her how to groom using Skeeter who happened to be very sore that day. After standing very quiet for the grooming, the horse laid it’s head on the schooling rider’s shoulder. Steph thought it was really cute.
In her spare time
Steph will be graduating from Northridge High School this June. She currently volunteers at LoveWay five days a week in the afternoon and on Monday evenings. She also just started volunteering at Keystone RV Company in their maintenance department where she is practicing her welding skills. She just applied for an apprenticeship at the Pipe fitters Union and is waiting to hear back for an interview. She likes to play with her dog Corky and ride on her dad’s 2005 Heritage Soft-tail Harley Davidson Motorcycle too.

Loveway, Inc. Video Online

We've added our DVD video to the site. You can now view Loveway, Inc.'s impact in the community from our website. Click on the image below to view the Flash video file.