MU Spotlight 20/20
Community Partner Spotlight: Equi-Librium
Cheryl Baker, CEO
What is your full name? Is there a story behind your name?
Cheryl Ann Baker. Cheryl is feminine for Charles. I was named, as most other Cheryl Anns my age, after a tugboat named the "Cherylann" from a show that was on TV in the 50s.
Give us a brief summary of your organization, your work, and your mission.
At Equi-librium, we provide healing through horses. The Mission of Equi-librium is to empower individuals with special needs to reach their highest potential through horse-related activities. We are open 6 days a week, and have more than 100 people who come to our farm each week for equine therapy, either through riding, driving, groundwork, or vocational training. I oversee 2 major annual fundraisers, including the Lehigh Valley’s only polo match, Lehigh Valley Polo for Equi-librium at Braden Airpark in Easton.
What is your role at your organization, and what is something many may not know about the work you do?
I joined Equi-librium in April of 2015 as the CEO. Equine Therapy is a fairly new discipline in the United States; it really wasn’t something offered before the 1960s. Our organization began as an Easter Seals program; we incorporated as our own 501 (c) 3 on September 1, 2001. In ancient Greece Hippocrates wrote a chapter on ‘Natural Exercise’ and mentions riding. In 1952 at the Helsinki Olympics, Liz Hartel won a silver medal in equestrian sports and told the world how riding had helped her recover from polio. In the 1960′s, therapeutic riding centers developed throughout Europe, Canada and the US. In the 1960′s the horse began to be viewed as an adjunct to physical therapy in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. This endeavor was called ‘hippotherapy’. In 1969 the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA) was established in the United States. In the 1970′s physical therapists in the United States began to develop treatment uses for the movement of the horse. In 1987 a group of 18 American and Canadian therapists went to Germany to study hippotherapy and began development of a standardized hippotherapy curriculum. One from the group was one of our founders. Hippotherapy, and equine therapy, are still not covered by insurance, so much of my role as CEO is grant writing and organizing fundraisers and other fundraising efforts.
How did volunteers on Heritage Day support your work?
A busload of faculty, staff, and students - 51 in all! - were here on Heritage Day. They broke into groups - one group used wire brushes and scraped paint off the main office building, prepping it to be painted by another volunteer team from Sanofi Pasteur who were here the next day. One group cleaned the barns and stalls where our 15 horses are kept; one group deep cleaned our classroom/family waiting area. Another group gathered screenings and stones that had washed down our driveway and replaced them on trails and pathways; another group did landscaping/weeding projects.
What is your favorite spot in Bethlehem?
Honestly? My neighborhood! - because I live only blocks away from north campus - in between Comenius and the football field - I can attend games on weekends, and I can be a central gathering place when friends return to visit for Homecoming, Parent's Weekends, vespers, Alumni Weekend, etc. My other favorite spot is the little area between the Moravian Book Shop and Heckewelder place - there is a bench, and a small stone with a bible verse on it - it reads "Be Still, and Know I Am God."
What's your favorite family tradition?
Thanksgiving, because we are of Pennsylvania German Heritage, and we eat something very untraditional for Thanksgiving. It is called "Pig Stomach". It's really sausage and potatoes baked in the lining of a cleaned pig stomach - you don't actually eat that part, and what's inside is very, very, tasty. Everyone who has ever had it with us LOVES it.
Name something many of your colleagues don’t know about your outside of your responsibilities?
I am also a church music director and organist at a local Moravian Church in Hellertown. My Moravian University family would not be surprised by this; when I was a student one of my favorite things to do when I lived in Jo Smith was to play the piano in the front lounge; I serenaded us many evenings! I love being a part of the Moravian Church family as well as the Moravian University family; I try and serve candles at vespers almost every year. All three of my children have been Morning Star soloists for both our Moravian church congregations and for the University Vespers services—I am a very proud mama!
My typical weekend would go something like this:
Friday - collapse! after a long week of work my teenage daughter and I like to curl up with a movie either out or in. Saturday, if I'm not busy with an event, I like to travel to visit my college classmates and friends, especially to Washington, NJ, to visit my "big sister" from AEPi Carol Mooney. Sunday I'm in church in the morning, and afternoons are busy with food shopping, cooking for family, and readying for the week.
What's your favorite thing to do when you're away from work?
I am very involved, and committed, to our local Morning Star Rotary Club here in Bethlehem. I will be taking over as President in July. Our motto is service above self, and I love to be doing the work of helping others. I have hosted six foreign exchange students - 2 boys from Turkey, a girl from Mexico, a girl from Finland, a girl from Spain, and a boy from Chile. My 29-year-old daughter was a Rotary exchange student in the Czech Republic her junior year of high school. She had some knowledge of the Czech language ahead of her trip, as she tutored with two international students at Moravian in the spring months ahead of her travel.
What color do you love?
Blue, because it's soothing. I am an Aquarius—the water bearer—and water is the most soothing thing in the world to me. Oceans, lakes, rivers, or a bathtub! Put me near water and I'm happy. We have a pond here at the farm where I work, and that is awesome to me!
If money was no object, what would your dream career be?
To run a charitable foundation, because I am keenly interested in social change and the improvement of others and our world.
What's your pet peeve?
I don't like to be idle. In fact, it makes me nervous. If I'm watching TV, I have to be folding paper Moravian stars, or knitting, or working on the computer - I feel like I'm wasting time! I wish I didn't feel this way; I think it causes me to say "YES" to too many things, and therefore I'm always committed and overwhelmed, but the busy person gets the most done! My other pet peeve would be people who won't say YES—it's always 20% of the people who do 80% of the work. It's a reality, and it helps to drive me, but it's not a fair one.
Who is your hero? Why?
Hillary Clinton. She is, and was, the most qualified candidate to ever run for the office of President. She fought, and continues to fight, tirelessly for human rights, women's rights, and children and families. She has endured slings, arrows, lies and mischaracterizations of her actions and decisions, but still holds her head high and fights on for what is right no matter what people may think or say, and is content to know that people who really know her personally know her motives, her heart, and her caring.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
To do my best, work for what's right, and always be truthful. Also, to live by the Rotary International 4-Way Test: In all the things you think, do, and say, 1: is it the truth? 2: is it fair to all concerned? 3: will it build goodwill and better friendships? and 4: will it be beneficial to all concerned?
What is the best thing you learned from any employer you've had?
That culture eats strategy for breakfast. I learned that having had the privilege of working for The Walt Disney Company, where pride in your work, exceeding every expectation and going above and beyond to please every customer is a way of life. I have brought this mantra with me to the farm at Equi-librium, and I have been working on creating that culture here, too—and it's beginning to show!
What sound do you love? Why?
Music - especially vocal; waves coming in on a beach with gulls overhead; water— tumbling over rocks, over a fall, down a stream. Running in a faucet works, too!
What is your favorite ice cream? Why?
Easy—chocolate chip cookie dough, in a dusty road sundae from the Cup. Why? It's available a short walk from my house!
I can never resist a good __________.
...time! Also: book, movie, red wine, piece of dark chocolate
What makes you happy?
Friends and family around me.
If there was a movie produced about your life, who would play you and why?
Andie MacDowell, because all my life people have told me I look like her.