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JUVENILE INTERVENTION
It is Fire Horse Farm's goal to become an available worksite for teens who
require community service hours for certain Class C misdemeanors and certain traffic offenses.
Juveniles who choose Fire Horse Farm as their worksite, will receive many benefits. They begin to see the needs of others as they assist in classes.
They also work together with other teens, who are volunteering. Participants learn to take responsibility for their actions and develop respect for others
as well as for themselves. They find out they like to give of themselves, and in turn the urge to do what is right rekindles.
Volunteering - A positive influence in a teens life.
Everyone is concerned about most of society's problems. We also feel the root
cause is not due to the lack of public spending, it's due to the lack of involvement. All government expenditures have increased, yet the problems are
increasing. Fire Horse Farm uses a tried and true approach. Everything is kept simple. For example, some of our youth feel disconnected. Working off
service hours connects a youth with our children and adults who are challenged with disabilities, and with the volunteer teenagers who are good peer
role models. Some of our youth feel powerless. At Fire Horse Farm participating youth are empowered with knowledge of cause and effect, responsibility
of one's actions, and respect for others as well as for themselves.
- Population Served
- Adolescents in Rusk and surrounding counties, who have received community service hours are served through this program.
Whenever the youth are involved with students who are disabled, or performing tasks given, other Fire Horse Farm instructors and teen volunteers
work alongside the youth.
- Program Procedures
- A participating youth receiving community service hours must contact the Fire Horse Farm office. A
Volunteer Application
will need to be filled out by the teen and his/her parents. A time will be agreed upon for the youth to begin his service hours. During the first visit to the facility,
a staff member will sit down with the participant, and parents, to dis-cuss Fire Horse Farm policies. Upon completion of each day served, a staff
member will sign the participant's time sheet. The participant is responsible for keeping up with his/her time sheets.
- Benefits - Cause & Effect
- There are consequences to our actions or lack of action. Fire Horse Farm's desire for a teen volunteer, working off community service hours,
is to realize the reality of choices made. It is Fire Horse Farm's desire that the teen volunteer will gain what he or she is needing to learn through community
service, and not make incorrect choices again. Our desire is not to see the same teens back for community service, but as a volunteer on a regular basis.
- Change
- Real change occurs when an individual decides to alter his or her life's choices. Interacting with FHF's students, a community service participant,
witnesses the changes our students have chosen to make in their own lives. Fire Horse Farm's students, parents, instructors, and volunteers set a positive example
for these young people.
- Program Impact
Throughout the time of gaining the necessary
hours for community service, a participant notices many things.
- They see teens willingly volunteering their time.
- They witness students struggle to gain a simple task.
- They find out they like to give of themselves, and in turn the urge to do what is right rekindles.
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