For those who don’t know, Marley’s Mission is a non-profit organization that provides free equine-assisted therapy for children who have experienced trauma. Since its inception in 2010, Marley’s Mission has provided treatment to over 600 children from Lackawanna, Luzerne, Pike, Wayne, and Susquehanna county. The Mission houses and utilizes twelve horses on their campus in Newton Township which contains a stable, two indoor therapy arenas, three large pastures, a pavilion, and an administration center.
Every year in February, The Mission hosts a Blue Ribbon Gala at the Hilton in Scranton. The goal of the gala is to raise money that would go toward the care and keeping of the campus and the horses at The Mission, which allows them to provide free treatment to all children.
I’ve attended every gala for The Mission, and this one was no less special. The seventh annual Blue Ribbon Gala took place on February 18th this year, and the theme for the event was “March Forth: Find Your True North”. This theme represents marching forth towards hope, and new beginnings. However, this theme also ties back to honorary gala chair member, Chrissy McLaughlin. Chrissy’s son, Zachary, lost his life when he was 14 months old to the hands of an abuser. Chrissy has been an advocate for child abuse prevention and awareness, and an active volunteer for Marley’s Mission since Zachary’s death in 2005. Zachary’s birthday is on March 4th, and this year he would’ve been 13 years old. To represent the “March Forth” theme, every gala committee member created their own arrow to represent who they are. Pictured below is the arrow Chrissy made for Zachary, and yes, the other arrow is the one that my family made.
The gala truly is an amazing time for all the guests, with plenty of good company, good food, and lots of dancing. It does an excellent job of encompassing exactly what The Mission does: provide hope. Gathering upwards of 400 people in one room, all united for the same cause of providing children with a way to heal from their trauma, creates a kind of hope and optimism that is almost tangible.
With that idea of promoting hope in mind, The Mission also gives out awards to specific members of the community who have been advocates of child abuse and have been a force of change in their community. Two awards in particular were given to very extraordinary – to say the least – recipients. One recipient of The Saddle of Hope Award, which is given to a member of the community who has inspired and impacted the lives of others for the better, was The University’s own Michael Kulick, also known as the State Walker. Michael walked across the entire state of Pennsylvania in 2016 in order to raise awareness for child abuse; he walked from the courthouse of Luzerne County to the courthouse of Lackawanna County this past December. He walks for those who feel as if they don’t have a voice in hopes that his ability to overcome obstacles will inspire them to do the same.
The Remembering Zachary Award, inspired by Chrissy’s son Zachary, recognizes people who seek to raise awareness about child abuse. This year’s recipients were Scranton police officers Scott Benzeleski, Eric Lindsay, Anthony Shields, and Daniel Schaufler. These four men volunteered a week of their time as camp counselors at the John Wilding Memorial Hands and Hooves Summer Camp at The Mission in July of 2016. The officers kept their occupation anonymous until the end of the week, where they revealed to the children that they were Scranton police officers. The goal in this was to show the campers that law enforcement, particularly police officers, aren’t people that need to be feared. In the case of most of these children, their experiences with law enforcement have been mostly negative, and allowing them to see police officers as human beings is an intrinsic part of their development. I witnessed the reveal at summer camp, and there were plenty of gasps from the kids at camp, and a lot of awe-stricken gazes when they realized they’d made friends with a police officer.
It’s still technically the beginning of the semester, so if you’re looking for some advice to get you through, take a page from Marley’s Mission and all those involved and march forth, regardless of what stands in your way.