Bill Jamison, who heads up the Helping Hands and Horses organization, said he’s happy to again see dirt moving on the organization’s 52-acre site.
Jamison, executive director and CEO of the nonprofit therapeutic horseback riding program, began overseeing work to create a veterans park on the organization’s site at 1313 McNutt School Road west of Herculaneum in 2023. That work had to stop in July of that year, though, after government officials said he needed to address some issues, like obtaining the proper permits, before proceeding.
Bill Jamison, executive director CEO of Helping Hands and Horses, in his home on the property.
“After about a year later and $30,000 of work, we’re starting our project again,” he said Sept. 19. “We had to have surveyors in. We did creek work. We had to redo work we had done before that the (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers required.”
The work was paused after officials with the Jefferson County Stormwater Division and the Code Enforcement Division, as well as officials with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers, said there were problems with the project, like filling in areas in a floodplain of Joachim Creek and diverting a tributary that carries stormwater into the creek.
The organization has since resolved those problems, said Robin Jamison, Bill Jamison’s daughter.
“Helping Hands and Horses is excited to announce that our veterans park is back on track, thanks to the help from (government agencies), specifically Mike Cook (of the Stormwater Division), the engineering work of Igor Gusev, the landscape assistance of Kevin Klodt of Unlimited Landscapes, Bloomsdale Excavating and the materials from Lauren Cargle and Jason Giovanni with New Frontier Materials.”
Cook also said Helping Hands and Horses is now in compliance with water/floodplain issues.
“The property has returned to compliance with water quality, water protection, floodplain and floodway at the federal, state and county levels,” he said.
Bill Jamison said his organization is paying for part of the work to create the veterans park and receiving donated work for some of it.
Helping Hands and Horses, established in 2008, serves adults and children with a variety of disabilities from around the St. Louis region, according to its website.
Jamison said his organization actually began a program for veterans before the COVID pandemic stalled it.
He looked to revive it with a veterans park last year.
“We have different areas of the property designated for different purposes,” he said. “We’ll do a veterans program in the veterans park. (Volunteers) can help load them on horses or the veterans can walk the horses.
“I think there are lots of veterans out there sitting around that would enjoy the opportunity to do something different with their comrades.”
The veterans park, which Jamison said is targeted to open in the spring of 2025, not only will offer horseback riding trails, but also a place for veterans to socialize together.
“We’re setting it up with flowers,” Jamison said. “It will be a thing of beauty. We’re building a pavilion.”
David Schubert of Arnold, a volunteer with the organization, said the idea is to give veterans their own space on the property.
“This will be something where a guy can come and relax and be himself,” Schubert said. “If you don’t want to ride, you can walk a horse, be a friend to a horse.”
Helping Hands and Horses offers its programs for free.
“There is no cost to participate,” Jamison said. “We run on donations. We’re a state-registered nonprofit organization.”
Jamison said there is great interest in all Helping Hands and Horses programs.
“We help between 90 and 100 special needs riders,” he said. “We still have a three-year waiting period (for existing programs).”
Jamison said the veterans program will start out small.
“We’ll start the veterans program with a session for two hours on Tuesdays starting next spring,” he said. “As we add more veterans, we’ll add more hours for sessions. We have not started registering veterans for the program yet.”
Jamison stressed the veterans park is on the organization’s private property.
“It’s a private park,” he said. “It is part of Helping Hands and Horses. It’s not for the general public.”
He said people have been generous to his organization, which is financially stable.
“This is the end of our 17th year and we’re doing well,” he said.
Jamison said volunteers are always needed to help the organization in a number of ways, including assisting with programs and caring for the organization’s 13 horses.
“We probably won’t increase the number of horses because we’re restricted by land size,” Jamison said.
For more information, visit the organization’s website at helpinghandsandhorses.org.