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Life at Perficient

Gift of Time Goes a Long Way in Helping Equine-Assisted Therapy

Helping children with special needs has always been close to Mamta Kohli’s heart. She’s a project manager with Perficient who also has a teaching background.
She was grateful to join a group of co-workers to support Equine-Assisted Therapy’s 2016 Hoedown for Hope fundraiser. The team from our St. Louis office volunteered in a variety of capacities to help the non-profit organization continue to provide therapeutic horseback riding activities for individuals with special needs.
Mamta (pictured below with Jason Hudnall, General Manager, St. Louis office) worked in the parking lot, assisting attendees with parking and directing ingress and egress traffic. She also helped pack-up and clean at the end of the evening.

Tamara Mathis, who works in our human resources department, has a niece with special needs and loves horses and helping others. She assisted with the purchasing of merchandise sold at the event and clean-up afterward.
“The experience was humbling and exciting,” Tamara said. “To be able to witness the humanity that people have for others was mind-blowing.”
Janet Lockwood, talent acquisition coordinator, helped set up the buffet and then paired with a volunteer from another group to “sell” envelopes containing gift cards and certificates for a variety of services and organizations. All funds went to the organization.
“Organizations like Equine-Assisted Therapy are yet another channel of hope and support for families. But financial resources are always hard to come by in the not-for-profit world. By volunteering, labor can be transformed into service dollars,” Janet (pictured below) said.

For her, the Hoedown for Hope further reinforced the benefits of organizations like Equine-Assisted Therapy.
“One of the attendees was a young lady I had observed in another therapy environment. While the atmosphere was festive and the organizers grateful, it was seeing her that made me realize how much support these families need,” Janet said. “I’m a firm believer in the role animals play in helping kids and adults alike either overcome their special needs or manage them. I’ve also seen the benefits through friends with children with special needs. The entire family smiles when they talk of this therapy.”

Tamara agrees. “Events like the Hoedown for Hope give light to some that are in darkness,” she said. “It reminds people that everyone does not have the same luxuries in life, and even if a financial gift is unable to be given, the gift of time and care suffices much more.”
Following the Hoedown for Hope experience, Mamta is considering volunteering for Equine-assisted therapy in a larger capacity. “In the future, I would like to be more involved in the actual program working with kids,” she said.


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Kristin Brashares

Kristin Brashares serves as Digital Senior Marketing Manager at Perficient and is a proud member of the Women in Tech ERG.

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