CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Trails of Purpose is a beautiful farm and non-profit in the Hickory neighborhood of Chesapeake.
For seven years, it’s provided free mental health counseling, and equine therapy for military, first responders, and their families.
“My wife got me involved with the whole process because I would never seek counseling but I would help other people so by proxy I received the mental health counseling as well,” said Ricky Bledsoe, president of Trails of Purpose.
“The horses dip their head and that connection made and that bonding made with that person they’re working with and to see that release of stress and tension and just the love and intuitiveness between the person and the horse, It's such a beautiful thing to see,” said Melissa Pierce, board chairman.
The non-profit was founded by Kayla Smith to honor her father.
“I’m so honored to nominate her. She started this back in 2019 with the dream of honoring her father who she lost in the twin towers on 9-11. Fast forward to 2026 and 30,000 hours of free mental health counseling,” said Pierce.
Her husband and dozens of staff and volunteers helped as we surprised Smith with our Everyday Hero award.
"We’re here to give you an Everyday Hero Award. Thank you! And you dressed up so pretty today. I did due to my husband who made me think I was getting dinner but that’s ok,” I said as I gave Smith the award.
“We have a community partner Southern Bank, and they would like to give you $300 dollars plus $125 on top of that because its their anniversary,”
“Thank you, that means a lot I appreciate it,” replied Smith who was very surprised.
“I think everybody needs someone to talk to, and I think that we don’t have as much of an awareness of how dire that is especially in the military community,” said Smith.
This tiny dynamo is gearing up for the non-profit's big fundraiser 'Boots and Bowties.' If you’d like to wrangle yourself a ticket to support the work they're doing, there will be a link below.
Kayla Smith and the staff at Trails of Purpose are 'Positively Hampton Roads.'
“This was awesome. Thank you to Southern Bank, thank you to WTKR, thank you!”
https://www.trailsofpurpose.com/boots-bowties-and-big-impact
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