Get Involved

Volunteer with Us

Join Us in Creating Kindness and Compassion

Horse Time Center for Equine Collaboration welcomes individuals who are passionate about making a difference in the lives of horses and the community. As a volunteer, you'll have the opportunity to contribute to our programs and events, and be a part of creating a positive impact. Your support is invaluable, and together, we can spread kindness and compassion throughout our community.

Become a Board Member

Experience a Sense of Belonging

Join our community as a valued member and facilitate the profound connection between horses, nature, and sustainable living. As a board member, you'll have access to exclusive events, workshops, and gatherings that promote healing, growth, and a sense of belonging. Your guidance and expertise enriches our community, and we look forward to welcoming you into our equine-centered world.

Roles we are seeking to fill:

Board President

Vice President

Treasurer

Chair

Wranglers (onsite 2 day training required)

We always need general board members to work on committees, helping to develop our visibility, programs and effectiveness.

Meet The Team

Sandra RietKerk, Founder,
Acting President &
Executive Director

Sandra Rietkerk is a visionary leader and certified facilitator dedicated to fostering healing and self-discovery through a soulful, collaborative partnership with horses. As a certified Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) Facilitator through the EAL Academy and a professional member of ARCH Arenas for Change and EAGALA, Sandra creates inclusive, spiritually-aligned spaces where both humans and horses are honored as equal participants. Her practice is conducted entirely from the ground, ensuring a safe and respectful environment that prioritizes the horse’s agency and intuitive wisdom. By blending her background in education with a deep reverence for the sacred bond between species, Sandra guides individuals on a journey of empowerment and inner peace, inviting every participant to experience the transformative power of horses.

Mark RietKerk
Founding Member &
Building & Grounds Committee Chair

Mark is the backbone to creating the safe and beautiful backdrop to the work here, and supports the nonprofit by also taking on the role of "Chef Mark" for our board meetings.

Mark brings his background in the military as a Marine, his accounting skills, his Tool & Die experience and his ability to fix anything. If Mark can't fix it, it can't be fixed - or he has no interest in figuring it out.

Mark's initial skepticism of this work was overcome through direct experience and witnessing the guests returning for more.

Because Mark is married to the founder, it is important that we find a board member to replace him as Buildings and Grounds Committee Chair

Deena Balkema
Board Member

Deena Balkema brings a unique blend of analytical precision and technical expertise to our Board of Directors. She possesses the problem-solving skills and meticulous attention to detail necessary for high-level organizational oversight. Deena’s diverse professional training—ranging from I-CAR safety and planning certifications to advanced equipment management—demonstrates a disciplined approach to operational excellence and a personal commitment to completing every task to perfection. A highly effective communicator and collaborative team member, she is known for her generosity in meeting community needs whenever they arise. Outside of her board service, Deena is a familiar face at our facilities, where she boards her horse, Solomon.

Rich Wojtas
Founding Member

Rich"s quiet support in developing this nonprofit cannot be measured. He brought his history of guiding meditations and pursuing spiritual growth to our farm. Our first horse meditations were populated by guests he invited from Land of Light, where he recognized the two nonprofit missions aligned.

Rich is a founding member and has consistently provided discriminating feedback to our meetings and outreach to the public to continue our mission.

Next Fantastic
Treasurer

The founding member who served as our treasurer could not meet his obligations due to personal crisis and resigned in December 2025.

There is plenty of assistance available for an incoming treasurer here and it is critical that we find a new person to serve us in this position in order to remain in compliance of requirements for nonprofit status as well as to receive grant funding.

Amy Thiessen
Board Member

Amy brings her 40 years of horse experience to the board, as well as her business owner expertise. Her drive to learn as many wellness therapies for horses as she can, she provides the community with a wonderful resource for horsemanship training.

Amy owns Changes of Richland in a building in that she owns and operates, she cares for an aging relative, her family and her farm, and runs her own horse business, Misty Moor Farm. Amy provides lessons in horsemanship to Gull Lake Schools, in private lessons and at summer camps.

Amy recently announced her own nonprofit, Misty Moor Foundation. Her schedule is hectic and she still shows up for our meetings and supports our mission.It is truly amazing that she can continue to find time for us when she is juggling so much.

Cheryl Zablow
Fundraising & Marketing Chair

Cheryl found Sandra from a post on Facebook and realized we lived in the same neighborhood. She reached out to offer to trailer together for a trail ride, and now we adopted her into the Horse Time family.

Cheryl is a retired educator who moved here from California. She is a powerhouse of momentum to get things rolling and take charge to see it to successful ends. Her fundraising experience is where she shines and because she is developing her real estate business with Premiere Group of Kalamazoo, her social media skills and networking are invaluable as we try to be seen in our community.

Nancy Salvaggio
Founding Member
&
Secretary

Nancy retired from Western Michigan University and has been friends with Sandra for decades. Her desire to find the serenity with horses she discovered in horseback riding lessons as a youth brought her to Horse Time to experience a personal session with the horses. Since that moving experience, her commitment to making sure everyone who can benefit from these experiences finds them, she continues to witness to others and volunteer as much as she can on any level she can. Nancy's drive to complete tasks to perfection is an amazing asset to our farm and our mission. See her interviewed in the video done by Public Media Network.

Chris Green
Founding Member & Volunteer Recruitment Chair

We are incredibly grateful for the dedication of Chris, a full time Kalamazoo Valley Community College student, third-degree black belt in Taekwondo, and lifelong musician, who has been instrumental in getting Horse Time off the ground. Inspired by his mother, our founder Sandra, Chris has leveraged his confidence in sales and public performance to serve as our interim Volunteer Recruitment Chair, where his empathy and curiosity for others have made him a natural leader in outreach. While organizational bylaws regarding his direct relation to Sandra mean he will soon step down from the Board of Directors, we celebrate his vital contributions during our early stages and are thrilled that he will continue to support our mission as a dedicated volunteer and replace himself with a volunteer of the same quality.