Improving Elkhart County One Neighborhood at a Time

“I’m the President of the Southdale Bridge Builders; we’re a nonprofit organization that represents and assists several different neighborhoods in Elkhart County,” says Rick Newbill, our current spotlight volunteer. “One of the main goals of the Southdale Bridge Builders is to help beautify and improve our neighborhoods and help encourage and foster good relationships between neighbors.

Street sweeping, brush pick-up, and fire hydrant painting are some of the things we do; we spend a lot of time going through neighborhoods and helping older folks with lawn and garden maintenance—that can be something that gets more difficult for people as they get older, or if they have fewer resources.

I’ve been involved with the Southdale Bridge Builders for about 13 years.

I found a flier on my door one morning about a meeting at the First Church of God, around the corner from my house, and I attended that meeting and came away with a real strong sense of purpose and understanding of just how important it is to invest time and care into our neighborhoods. That was really the seed that got everything going. Since then I’ve been involved—through Southdale and other nonprofit organizations, such as South Side Inc.—in working and volunteering to create healthier neighborhoods with an eye on education services, collaboration, safety, culture and diversity, business and housing, and in creating and maintaining open lines of communication with our city.

Southdale Bridge Builders does a lot of work on the ground in the community, for the community, but ultimately the goal of this organization is just like the name; we want to build bridges, and not tear them down. Strengthening and supporting our neighborhoods and communities, and bringing people together in pursuit of productive solutions is what this is really all about.

“Healthy neighborhoods are wealthy neighborhoods”

For me, I looked around at some point and it felt like things just aren’t quite how they used to be with our neighborhoods, and that’s a problem. Healthy neighborhoods are wealthy neighborhoods, that is always true. Not always true the other way around, though. It’s all about securing and nurturing our future; and in my mind that starts with our neighborhoods, our kids, and our families.

I was born in South Bend, I graduated from John Adams High School and then in the early 1970s I got my insurance certificate from Purdue University. When I was a kid growing up, we always knew who our neighbors were and we usually knew them pretty well. These days it seems to me like, overall, things are more disconnected. A lot of people these days don’t know the names of their neighbors, there isn’t as much interaction as there used to be, not as much of people helping each other out—and it’s things like this that made me want to involve myself in trying to bring people together and make things better for our communities.

The thing I love the most about Elkhart County is the diversity we have here, there is so much potential here—it’s easy to want to be involved. But for some people that’s where it ends. For me, I think volunteering and being of service just comes naturally to me. I’ve been involved in volunteering for a long time, really since I was a kid at church—over 40 years ago—and I’d have to say it was my mother who influenced me to be that way. She was very involved in the South Bend Urban League and she set such a strong example for me in terms of community service and care.

Being a part of the solution

People think young kids these days aren’t involved and aren’t interested in volunteering, but honestly that’s not what I see from my end. I think in some ways it’s just the way of youth to be more focused on themselves, and not on helping those around them, and, sure, a lot of kids are self-involved. But I see so many young people in our communities these days who understand that volunteering amounts to leading and leadership, that it leads to healthier communities, healthier relationships, and healthier neighborhoods.

In general I feel like I see things turning in that positive direction, and—if I don’t get that feeling in a neighborhood that there is growing care, cooperation, and collaboration between citizens—that’s when we go to work with our organizations, trying to help out however and wherever we can to bring people together, improve communities, and shape a better future.”

“I’d say we probably had between five and six thousand people come out to the Salute to Veterans WWII Reenactments and Airshows. It was at the Elkhart Municipal Airport on the Saturday and Sunday before Memorial Day, and it was just amazing. It was just such a great event. Just an awesome way to honor our many veterans – by bringing history to life. We had a 99-year-old veteran in attendance and probably half a dozen other veterans up in their 90s or close to it.

I’m a 4th District City Councilman for the city of Elkhart, and a liaison to the Aviation Board, and I served as the volunteer coordinator for the event. The event consisted of American and German World War II military reenactments with foxholes and mock battlefields and real vehicles, and we had airplanes simulating bombing runs to accompany the action on the ground. The reenactments were followed by extended aerial shows and, all told, people got to see vintage tanks and vehicles and special aircrafts in action; including German Tanks, Corsairs, P51 Mustangs and a 1942 Douglas C-53 Skytrooper.

On both days, the airshows were organized by Dacy Airshows – one of the best in the business. Local resident Scott Duck was our ground air boss and managed all the stunts and acrobatics and pyrotechnics for the event. In the airshow we had the Misty Blues all female skydive team and there were T-6 formation flights and Missing Man formation flights and on both days we ended the airshow with the Kem Krest 1,000-foot wall of flames.

This was the first time we had this event in Elkhart since 2015, and we were blessed to have volunteers coming out of the woodwork – people were calling at the last minute wanting to be involved in some way. They were asking if they could help haul supplies and food or drive one of the golf carts to help out – I think it speaks to the respect folks have for the veterans that fought so hard to help secure the freedoms we enjoy.”

– Dwight Fish

“A lot of times when younger adults and kids first come to LoveWay, at the start, they’re afraid of the horses. Horses are beautiful animals and therapeutic riding programs are so beneficial – but horses are also large animals and they can be very imposing. Even to folks in general who’ve not seen one that close before, and especially to some of our young and old riders here at LoveWay – many of whom are in wheelchairs, or have mild to severe autism, or have sensory or other challenges…It can be scary at first.

But we have amazing horses here. They don’t spook and they are calm, kind and gentle. The kids in particular really enjoy working with the same horse every week – they give them treats and brush them and care for them. They really develop close relationships with the animals and that is very meaningful. And by the end of the year there’s just so much amazing improvement with everyone involved, it’s just incredible.

I started volunteering at LoveWay about 15 years ago. I have seven kids of my own, and all of them worked here with me – volunteering – from the time they were 16 and throughout high school. We have a property in the country. We have horses and they all did 4-H, so my own kids have all been involved with riding from a very early age. I felt it would be good for my kids to learn about working with others who are maybe less fortunate or have significant challenges. My thinking was that it could help my kids to better appreciate their own health and strength and the blessings that they have.

And I think it did, for all of them. One of my daughters ended up getting a special education degree in college and I think her experience volunteering at LoveWay played a big part in that.

This is actually my first year volunteering at LoveWay by myself, without any of my kids. It’s kind of different but I still love coming here. It’s just a rewarding environment. Coming every week – seeing the other volunteers and all the riders and parents – it feels like seeing family. We all share the same goal – to help improve the lives of kids and adults with special needs and challenges.

I’ve seen amazing things here. I’ve seen people leave here, at the end of the day, completely changed from how they came in. I’ve seen non-verbal children use their first words while on a horse. For some of our riders, they have more freedom here than they do in the rest of their lives. That’s what we want to give them, the freedom to ride. To feel cared for, and to feel confident. And then to see them smiling and riding in the arena and many of them waving to their parents and friends and families in the stands – those are just beautiful moments. I think those moments are special, and helpful, also for the families and loved ones of our riders – to have that safe space where joy can be shared and felt so deeply.

We can always use more instructors and volunteers. I got into it having experience with horses, but another great thing about LoveWay is that if you want to volunteer and be a part of this important work, you can get the training and learn how to do what we do. We’ll teach you.

I’ve always been into volunteering because I think it is just good to do, and I think the world would be a better place if people were less selfish with their time. But I never imagined the profoundly positive effect it would have on me and my children, volunteering at LoveWay all these years.

I just love it. Fifteen years later, and I still love it…”

– Melany Weaver

LoveWay Equine Assisted Services, in Middlebury, Indiana, Elkhart County, was originally founded in 1973 by Gary and Sandy Weatherwax in honor and in loving memory of their daughter, Laurie Weatherwax. LoveWay provides therapeutic riding programs and services for people of all ages with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities and works with more than 350 riders each year – with the help of more than 160 volunteers – to continue its mission of empowering individuals and impacting the community.