As many of you know from things I have posted here or on Twitter, I have been volunteering for CANTER since October.  It has been amazing.

I have met so many horsepeople, volunteers, and horses in the last five months.  And, I have been able to find a way to get personally involved in racehorse retirement despite being an apartment-dwelling, car-less city person with neither space nor money for my own horse.  I have been out at Hawthorne just about every Saturday morning over the last few months with other local CANTER volunteers to talk to trainers and help take listings.  I have also put my online chatter tendencies to good use; over the last few months, I have had the reins for our chapter’s Twitter account.

When I started, we were still CANTER Illinois; the Chicago-area group and the group at Fairmount operated under the same leadership as an affiliate of CANTER USA.  Recently, CANTER Chicago has become its own affiliate.  Everything is official now: we have our own page on the national CANTER site, our own registration as an Illinois nonprofit, our own bank account.

And, this is where CANTER Chicago needs your support.  We are a 100% volunteer-run nonprofit, 501(c)(3).  Even though we’re not paid, there are still start-up and operating costs such as liability insurance (a requirement for having backstretch access at Arlington this summer).

You can help CANTER Chicago continue and expand our services to local racehorse retirement by getting a t-shirt!  We will be selling shirts through the month of March.  The design is based on the Chicago flag, so it shows love for both retiring racehorses as well as the city of Chicago.  I’ve bought one  — I would not be posting this were I not on board, too — and hope you will consider shirts for yourself and your friends.

With your help, we can become an even stronger part of Chicago’s aftercare infrastructure.