Sarasota Manatee Association for Riding Therapy

Community involvement and financial support are essential to our SMART program. We are partially supported by the United Way of Manatee County. The rest of our support comes from the tax deductible donations and gifts from private individuals and groups, fund raising events, and program fees.

Our funds are used to cover a wide range of operating costs including the care and maintenance of our horses, insurance, purchase and maintenance of equipment, and supplies and veterinary/farrier care.

We are extremely grateful for all donations to our program as these gifts enable us to continue to serve all of our riders, regardless of their ability to pay. If you'd like to help us out, please fill out the Donation Form and mail to the address indicated. Florida Registration # CH4398

 

SMART has a SMART truck, at last! Thanks to the very generous grants from the Puelicher Foundation and the Goldstein Foundation, we no longer have to borrow wheels from our volunteers AND we can show up at events, horseshows, camps and fundraisers in safety, class and style! Thank you Mary, Al and Anne for making this dream come true for us!

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Sandy Hill of the Lakewood Ranch Women's Club, awarded a gift of $10,000 to our SMART Board Members Nicky Drizos, Maureen Chesson and Peter Lofquist. We can't thank the Women of the LRWC enough for all of their hard work and for caring about SMART so much---for so many years. What a difference you make in the lives of our SMART Riders!

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We are so grateful to the Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch for the grant for $8194 for the purchase of our new SureHands lift. It was the final piece of equipment we needed to fully launch our Horses for Heroes program---which we have now successfully done! This lift is saving the backs of our hard working volunteer Instructors---and helping to keep us all safe and healthy. Thank you, Rotary Club of LWR, for continuing to care about all of us at SMART !

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Thank you to Manatee Memorial Hospital Foundation/Auxiliary for a grant for $1200 for the Scholarship Fund. The MMH Volunteers raise funds from the Thrift Shop they run located at 4517 Manatee Avenue West in Bradenton! They take in donations of gently used treasures from local residents, clean and repair them, and then place them for sale in their store. And all of the profits go toward supporting worthy organizations like SMART. What a wonderful thing! Let’s show our support for them, as they have shown us, and make sure that our own gently used treasures find their way to their Thrift Shop. 941-745-2047. Photo: Nancy Stolle, President of the Auxiliary, Gail Clifton and Carolyn Keller, Chairman of the Manatee Memorial Hospital Foundation.

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Stewart Elementary K Kids Club raised $300 by selling lollipops and presented SMART their check at their Stewart Star Assembly in May. "How sweet it is!" The kids decided to have the money designated for a Yellow Ribbon adoption of "Sailor".