CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — What may just look like a regular walk through the neighborhood for one Chattanooga organization has a deeper meaning behind it.
Executive director of Rise and Thrive Deeking Bryant says the purpose of the group’s fellowship with teens and young adults in our community is in an effort to stop gun violence.
The overall purpose of the program really to provide high-risk kids with an alternative way of thinking and living. We provide that with nature. We do nature hikes, emotional regulation with horses, Bryant says. “We’re getting them out their their way of thinking of destruction and introducing them into something positive. Something positive would be equine therapy. We’re getting them in tune with nature. We’re pretty much, how can I say, we’re elevating their minds.”
Here in neighborhoods like Bayberry, the Rise and Thrive group does most of their work…