Grant Stories

The Whitewater Therapeutic and Recreational Riding Association of Salmon, Idaho has a simple mission: “To enhance the quality of life for individuals with special needs, including youth at risk, elderly people, and veterans.” 

To achieve this mission, they’ve been providing equine-assisted activities and therapies in Lemhi and Custer County for over three decades. Equine therapy (or therapeutic horseback riding) has been shown to improve balance, muscle tone, and coordination in participants. It has also been shown to reduce anxiety, depression, and social isolation. 

This organization has a team of 20-30 volunteers who provide classes, provide care for horses, and help raise funds for the programs. It also has a team of horses who make it all possible. The program maintains a high-level accreditation to ensure that their program is meeting the highest standards. 

Wanting to provide optimal care and comfort for these gentle therapy horses, the Whitewater Therapeutic Riding Association asked CHC Foundation for a grant to help fund the construction of some additional horse shelters to help replace others that have become worn over time. 

CHCF was happy for the opportunity to help keep these therapeutic horses (and their riders) healthy and happy through helping to support the construction of two additional shelters. 

The Sacajawea Interpretive Center in Salmon, Idaho is a welcoming educational center located inside a 71-acre park. The park is filled with peaceful walking pathways that lead visitors through a lovely wooded area right next to the Lemhi River. The Interpretive Center alone, open every day between Memorial Day and Labor Day, receives almost 6,000 visitors each year - and that number doesn't reflect the number of people visiting the park's peaceful trail system regularly for exercise and recreation. The trails in the Center provide walkers of all ages and abilities access to a peaceful, beautiful forested area and an opportunity to connect with the the region's Native American heritage. These trails also makes it possible for anglers to approach the Lemhi River without needing to pay access fees. 

After 21 years of use, the "inner loop" trail at the Center needed to be resurfaced to ensure that visitors could continue to traverse these trails safety. CHC Foundation was happy to provide a grant to cover the costs of this simple but much-needed upgrade.