Saddle up! Idaho National Laboratory employees volunteer at Champ’s Heart
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AMMON — A 10-year-old boy hopped off his horse at Champ’s Heart last week and “wasn’t in a very good place,” Ed Hahn, a volunteer with the organization, said.
He asked him what was wrong, “took him by the hand” and they walked up to a miniature foal named Emily.
“Emily came up, walked directly up to him from about six (to) eight feet, and she commenced to lick his face,” Hahn said. “And I mean, it wasn’t one lick. She licked for a good minute to a minute and a half, and it was like chills up and down my spine.
“Of course, the kid left here with a whole lot different attitude, but it was just one of those little miracles.”
To aid the nonprofit organization, more than two dozen volunteers from Idaho National Laboratory, run by contractor Battelle Energy Alliance, donned their work clothes and set to work constructing a multi-level water feature, fencing and corrals; painting a Veteran’s Recognition Wall, and weed-whacking on eight acres of grounds at Champ’s Heart Tuesday.
Champ’s Heart currently provides horseback rides to 300 children with special needs, with 50 more on the waiting list, said Larry Cudmore, Champ’s Heart’s founder.
“Our goal at Champ’s Heart is to serve all of our guests, regardless of their ability. I don’t say disability, I say ability,” said Tom Zahn, property manager for Champ’s Heart.
Champ’s Heart is home to 21 horses. Three weeks ago, its original horse Slick died and was buried on the property.
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The organization offers horse encounters for children with special needs from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays.
“More than 7,000 children with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury and similar conditions reside in the seven counties surrounding Idaho Falls,” according to the organization’s website.
Applications are available at https://champsheart.org/participant-application/.
Horse rides are also given to veterans from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays, domestic violence victims from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the first Tuesday of the month, at risk school youth from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the second Tuesday and police officers and their families from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the third Tuesday.
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The national laboratory has been a consistent partner in helping Champ’s Heart complete annual projects.
“We have a program that’s called ‘Leadership Immersion,” said Bryan Parker, an INL senior organizational development consultant. “It’s a five-week program for managers and leaders at Idaho National Laboratory. This is probably our eighth cohort that we’ve taken through this, so about 25 people come out on each one of these projects.”
The second day of the program is dedicated entirely toward an all-day service project, he said.
“Part of that experience is learning to lead in the community. … This is our sixth project here. We’ve had almost 1,100 hours of donated labor to Champ’s Heart alone,” Parker said. “Plus everybody donates to the cause too. It’s not just sweat equity, it’s also people digging into their own pockets to donate to the projects that they have here.”
Since 2007, lab employees have completed 65 total projects for a combined 11,000 hours of donated service, according to Parker. They have also volunteered at DWI, formerly known as Development Workshop Inc., CLUB Inc., YMCA, city of Idaho Falls Parks and Recreation, and beautified a campground for the U.S. Forest Service near Mesa Falls.
Two years ago, Idaho National Laboratory employees spent 150 cumulative hours erecting a small bridge at Champ’s Heart to give riders an opportunity to hear and feel different sensory experiences.
“Some of our riders are sight-impaired,” Zahn said. “So to serve them better we built the bridge in 2022 so when a site-impaired person crosses a bridge, they can use two other senses – sound of course, and also feel.”
The fountain Idaho National Laboratory helped install Tuesday will add to the depth of the riders’ experience.
“I want to create the illusion,” Zahn said. “As they’re crossing that bridge, they’re hearing running water. So I want them to, you know, I want them to use their other senses like, ‘Oh, I’m crossing a stream here.’”
Zahn is suffering from esophagus cancer and has pneumonia, but he still has made the effort to come help out at Champ’s Heart.
Health concerns are also presenting a challenge to Cudmore, who has thrown his life into providing smiles and incredible memories for the children on horses after his own aggressive prostate cancer went into remission in 2018.
Today, Larry’s cancer has returned, and he is looking to step back and retire from volunteering sixty hours a week to keep the organization operating.
Champ’s Heart is looking to hire an executive director, thanks to a recent grant it received.
Cudmore’s legacy can only partially be measured by the thousands of horse rides, support and comfort he and other volunteers have offered to so many individuals with special needs, trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder and other challenges.
The real reward at the end of the day, is seeing the smiles on the faces of the children, veterans and first responders served by Champ’s Heart.
