May 2024: Margaret Paschal
Margaret Paschal
This month we are pleased to spotlight long-time Stride Ahead volunteer Margaret Paschal, one of our most dedicated volunteers.
Her tenure with Stride Ahead goes back to 2012 when she saw an article in the AJC about our program. It led her to take the new volunteer training that November, and by January 2013 she was a regular volunteer, serving as a side walker and horse leader, cleaning stalls, and helping with turn out and bring in. The pandemic brought everything to a halt in 2020, and once Stride Ahead was up and running again Margaret continued to volunteer, this time becoming part of the team that leads the New Volunteer Orientation sessions.
For Margaret, the best part of volunteering for Stride Ahead is knowing that our riders have the opportunity to do something traditional riders do, usually after being excluded from sports teams, school clubs, and Scouting.
Margaret feels her involvement with Stride Ahead has led her to become a better advocate for the disabled community.
When working with new Stride Ahead volunteers, she emphasizes that it’s not a volunteer’s job to automatically step in and do something for riders but first to see what riders can learn to do for themselves. Margaret believes Stride Ahead has the potential to become more active in the wider disability community by educating and inspiring others to focus on ability rather than disability and to reject stereotypes about what special-needs people can do.
In addition to her work with Stride Ahead, Margaret is very active in Girl Scouts, serving as a mentor, educator, newsletter editor and active alumna. She has combined her commitments to Stride Ahead and Scouting by working with Girl Scouts who she brings to Stride Ahead to work on badges, Journey awards and Community Service Bars, and carry out service and Take-Action projects. She also credits her work at Stride Ahead with her advocating initiatives to include special-needs girls in Scouting.
Margaret enjoys working with and getting to know other volunteers and appreciates the support and respect of the instructors, not to mention just hanging out at the barn and enjoying the wildlife that lives at Little Creek Horse Farm.
Stride Ahead thanks Margaret for being a part of orienting our new volunteers and for all you’ve done over the years for our program and beyond!
Thank you, Margaret!
If you would like to make a donation in honor of Margaret and all of our wonderful volunteers who make Stride happen, thank you.
