IQHA Princess Rory Tauer Dedicates Her Term to Feeding Those In Need

By Delores Kuhlwein

When Indiana Quarter Horse Princess Rory Tauer completed her first food drive last summer at the Jane Johnson Memorial Horse Show, sponsored by the IQHA, it was a labor of love.

Rory came up with the idea herself, feeling a strong pull to feed others from her experience with kids at her own elementary school who don’t have access to food when they’re away from school.

“There are a lot of kids in my grade, 4^th grade, who are affected by food insecurity,” Rory says.

The drive benefitted the Bulldog Blessings food pantry, the food bank for her entire school district, located at the high school. The food bank is managed by the special education program at the high school, Rory’s mom, Ginny Tauer explains.  “The Lifeskills kids in the high school organize it so people in need can come in to get items, and it helps a lot of people out.”

Rory’s first drive for the Bulldog Blessings food pantry was such a success that she decided to do another one for her school, Monrovia Elementary, this time for the Bulldog Blessings back sack program itself, which provides weekend meals for kids in the community.

“At my school we have a lot of kids who get back sacks, which are bags of food to take home on the weekend, and I felt I should help out with that,” she says. “The first food drive went very well, but we got way more the second time around.”  Rory collected kid friendly nonperishable food items as well as money to purchase items used to fill the weekend food sacks.

This second food drive  successfully raised $259 and two foldable wagons of food donations for the back sack program.

“The back sack program helps a lot of kids with food insecurity, because a lot of them only get meals at school,” says Ginny.  “The purpose of that program is to send food home they can prepare for themselves, like macaroni and cheese.  Sometimes it’s a lot of processed food, but the goal at this point is to provide calories.”

When Rory and her mom took the food to the school, they also found out the food bank had more buying power, so they were able to make the funds raised go a lot further than Rory could in the supermarket – so Rory donated the money directly to the school so they could purchase food.

The school offers a birthday party program, too, so food such as cake mix, along with party decorations, can be sent home for a child’s birthday.

“Some kids don’t get to celebrate with a birthday party because often their parents can’t afford it,” says Ginny.  “As parents, our horse show kids don’t always have the realization of this, and we’ve tried to show them how lucky they are.  We want them to recognize they have just about everything they want, and not everyone has that.”

Rory will stay in her role of Indiana Quarter Horse Princess until January 2024, a position she earned that’s similar to a Congress Queen role for younger kids.  “To get that,” Rory explains, “you have a written test, an interview, and you get judged on your horsemanship.”

She’s looking forward to more philanthropic efforts, including a possible fundraiser for the IQHA room at the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital.  “We had a youth pass away from leukemia several years ago who was a patient there, and our association created a Quarter Horse themed room at that hospital.  Rory got to help pick out items for the room,” Ginny explains, which left a deep impression on Rory, who has been going to IQHA banquets and meetings since she was a baby.

Rory, who shows two Appaloosas, Oh My Shes Awesome and Suddenly Ima Charlie, has other fundraising ideas as well.

“I also want to do a drive for food for horses, and a food and toy drive for the animals for Waldo’s Muttley Crew,” she says, referring to a local Indianapolis animal shelter.

“I may have to rein her in,” Ginny jokes.  “She has a lot of ideas of how she can help others.”

As for Rory, she’s thankful for all the support as she looks ahead.  “Thank you to everyone who donated – all the people at the Jane Johnson Memorial Show and everyone who brought food items to the IQHA banquet.”

 

Watch Rory discuss her food drive on the Indiana Quarter Horse Association page:  (2) Watch | Facebook