Ill. Senator Fowler announces $200K grant for Giant City Stables

MAKANDA, Ill. (KFVS) - Illinois State Senator Dale Fowler has announced a $200K member initiative grant that will benefit Giant City Stables. The grant will be through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to Specialized Equine Services.

The Specialized Equine Services is a non-profit organization that specializes in horseback riding that is meant to be therapeutic. The horseback riding is mostly for children, adults, and veterans with mental, physical and cognitive disabilities.

Funding through this state grant will primarily be used for the construction of a new building. Kevin MacDonald, the President of Specialized Equine Services, said programs have outgrown the existing structure and that clients could not participate due to physical limitations in extreme weather conditions. The new arena would allow riders the ability to attend year-round and also provide more privacy for therapeutic riding lessons while giving dignity to clients and their family.

“When we originally went for this grant, the money at the time would have covered the entire cost of what we were hoping to achieve, but due to the rising cost of building materials we have created a multi-phase plan to seek the best options for our operation,” said MacDonald. “We are very grateful to Sen. Fowler for his work and contribution of time in making sure we were awarded this grant.”

Laborers’ International Union Local 773 also announced a $10,000 donation to the stable at today’s press conference on February 2.