FINDEX sharing the love with RDA
“It is one of those things that is close to my heart,” said Rachel Clarke of Orange’s Riding for the Disabled.
Rachel’s son, who in on the autism spectrum, began attending Orange Riding for the Disabled (RDA) last year and she said the impact it has can be amazing to see.
“My son loves it, he is just calm…and there is the whole empathy thing and trying to concentrate on a task. We've been out and watched them a few times and the volunteers are amazing! It is beautiful to watch and to see these kids with such big smiles,” said Rachel, who also lends her pony “Peggy” to the organisation.
“I've always had horses, so I like going out there and being a part of it,” she said. “But this year has been a complete write off for them because of COVID. A lot their volunteers are elderly and in a high-risk category, so they can't actually do it and then the schools closed. They can’t even get out and fundraise like they used to at the field days or even down the street, so I wanted to funnel money there if I could.”
When approached, Rachel’s employer Findex (formerly Todd & Niven) were happy to assist.
“Findex are really big on donating back to the community. They have a community fund, where they have a pool of money to go towards anything that is classed as health, education or entrepreneurship and you can request donations. We also have workplace giving and on some of those they will match donations too,” she said
“I put in for Orange RDA and they straight away said, yep here have $2000. So we were able to give RDA money to go towards vets, farrier, drenches anything that they need to look after the ponies, because they still have the expenses even if they are not riding.
“Findex are really interested in supporting anything that is close to the hearts of their employees and I can honestly say from experience in working in a lot of different places over my time in the workforce, I’ve never worked for a company that has such an enormous focus on giving back to the communities, but also the resources to back it up! They are a firm that can do a lot for the community.”