About Us
Our History
A “Bit” About Us
As someone who didn’t always fit into the typical social molds, Brenda found horses were (and still are) her way to feel connected and accepted, providing her a safe place to face her fears, insecurities and dig deep to find her truth. Horses empower her to face the challenges in life, achieving things she didn’t think she could. Through her passion for horses and wanting to share this magic and give hope to youth struggling in her community, Horse Sense for Kids was born!
Brenda was blessed to grow up in a middle class home with access to programs and support and recognizes how important this was. Youth living in poverty don’t have such opportunities and get caught in the cycle of no hope. Horse Sense for Kids aims to give hope and create a different future!
Rob and Brenda Langendoen are passionate to provide a “sanctuary” for youth to feel accepted, cared for and empowered.
Their dream is to strengthen the community one child at a time!
A “Bit” About the Programs
Horse Sense For Kids (previously Horse Cents for Kids) started as a small fundraiser, hosted by BNR Stables every year since 2003 to raise funds for children in need to attend summer horse camp. This continued over the years with a handful of children participating every year. In 2014, HCFK officially became a non-profit organization and organized additional fundraisers to have more children attend camps. After seeing and hearing of the impact the programs were making in the children’s lives, it was decided to focus more on this area of programming and in order to do so, we applied for charitable status. We received it in October 2018 and immediately made plans for a pilot after school program to run in the spring of 2019 in partnership with a DSBN school principal (to select the participants) and Brock University to conduct a study, quantifying the impact our program has on the children’s mental health and well-being. The results of the study are very powerful and we are so excited to further explore the impacts of horses and horsemanship in children’s every day lives in future studies. View the results of the study here: HorseCentsforKids-Brock-Study-Report
Horse Sense for Kids continued to run programs as permitted during the COVID pandemic but unfortunately had to restrict participant numbers during that time. The Board of Directors used this time to work diligently on the governance of HSFK, editing by-laws, developing policy and procedures, a strategic plan and four committees (governance, marketing, fundraising and financial), creating a strong foundation for our organization to move forward and grow our programs!
Horse Sense for Kids is excited to get programs fully running again and have recently received grants from United Way Niagara, The Branscombe Family Foundation and The Trillium Foundation. Horse Sense for Kids also depends heavily on donations and sponsorships from companies and individuals to offer programs to youth at risk in Niagara.
A new logo and a slight change in the name took place the beginning of 2023 and Horse Cents for Kids is now known as Horse Sense for Kids.