Amanda Lamb: Riding into success
I didn’t know what to expect when my daughter invited me to Farm Day at the Corral Riding Academy, a nonprofit organization in Cary that serves young women. In fact, she told me very little, just that the organization has a mission she wanted to support through a club she leads at school. She told me to dress warmly and wear shoes that could get muddy.
We were greeted by Rob Currey. He explained how he and his wife, Joy, started the program in January 2009. Their primary location is the farm where Joy grew up in Cary. Their mission is to reach a grossly underserved population in Wake County—girls at risk.
These are girls who are dealing with poverty, neglect, abuse, and sometimes unspeakable trauma. The Curreys do this through a myriad of programs which include learning how to care for and ride horses. But the horses are simply a vehicle to engage young girls in a way that allows them to share their struggles and to see choices, options and a path to a fulfilling life that includes a focus on education and hard work.
I’m not going to lie—I was smitten right away by the Curreys and their purpose, which they tell you up front is based in their Christian values —their driving force. The Curreys are a force in their own right—engaging, enthusiastic, endlessly positive about their mission. So positive, they have now launched a second program at another farm in Southeast Raleigh they call The Neuse River Campus. And they don’t intend to stop there. They have plans for more locations. They want to quadruple their capacity over the next eight years—an impressive goal.
“This kind of capacity would allow us, for example, to serve every child in our local juvenile justice system. We believe that if we can continue to offer the depth of intervention we offer in our program to more children in our community, that ultimately we can move the needle and see systemic change breaking the cycle of trauma," Joy Currey said.
I met Joy in a small building on the farm that was renovated to be a classroom of sorts for the girls to do homework and receive tutoring. Joy was a teacher in the Northeast in several inner-city schools, and understands how important it is to keep education as a focus for these young women as they work toward their futures, which for many of them now includes college. The truth is that Joy is still a teacher. working alongside her staff on a Saturday morning to help her students reach their full potential.
Rob gave us a tour before putting us to work. At one point, we were in the barn and he asked a young woman to come up and tell us what the program meant to her. He put her on the spot. She didn’t have a prepared speech. But, with a catch in her throat and tears in her eyes, she explained how the program had saved her life. It was better than any slick website or fancy handout—it was hearing about real, tangible change in this young woman’s world.
So, at the end of the tour, we all got to do a little work—stack piles of wood, rake leaves, shovel manure. But clearly, the day wasn’t about the work we did, it was about learning about the work they did with these young women.
I was so grateful that my daughter introduced me to this impressive organization. They are always looking for volunteers. In fact, they have a volunteer information meeting coming up on Feb. 3 and their next Farm Day is Feb. 15. To learn more, go to: https://corralriding.org/
Amanda is the mom of two, a reporter for WRAL-TV and the author of several books including some on motherhood. Find her here on Mondays.
