26 SIDELINES JANUARY 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
e
By Alexa Cheater
With parents as active competitors, Jessica Newman was born
into horses. She began riding at the age of fve and, by 15, was
already competing against some of the best show jumping riders
in the world across North America and Europe. The dedication,
drive and determination that made her a ferce competitor are the
same characteristics that drove her, at age 22, to leave her grand
prix riding career behind and begin the search for something more
meaningful. It led Jessica to an even greater passion than the one
she had for horses; it was a calling to help humanity by supporting
its greatest asset – children.
“I had been so lucky for so long,” said Jessica of her initial de-
cision to switch her focus from riding to charity. “I was able to
have so much with horses, but it felt like something was missing.
I wanted to give something back, but I didn’t know yet what that
was. It prompted me to leave riding behind and go out and ex-
plore. In 1998, I went to Honduras with an organization to help
the victims of Hurricane Mitch. That was my frst experience with
extreme poverty, and it confrmed what I wanted to do with the
rest of my life.”
Five years later, JustWorld International was born.
“Our frst year was more of an exploration than anything else,”
remembered Jessica, who was aided by her friend, Hilary Betaille,
in JustWorld’s early development. “There was a lot of data gather-
ing and fact fnding. We did some recruiting and gave grants to
students to travel to different countries and seek out partnership
organizations. From there, we visited all of the potential projects
and started funding programs through JustWorld.”
JustWorld now has partnerships with organizations in Cambo-
dia, Guatemala, Honduras and Brazil, and funds life-changing
nutrition, health and hygiene, education, and leadership and cul-
tural development programs for impoverished children in those
countries.
“We originally planned to only fund education-based programs,”
Jessica said. “That frst year, we learned that starving and sick
children can’t focus on learning very well, so we expanded into
nutritional programs and have grown from there.”
While Jessica has transformed from competitive rider to hu-
manitarian, she hasn’t left the horse show world behind. Instead,
she has bridged her two worlds, with the majority of JustWorld
International’s funding coming from within the equestrian com-
munity.
of Changing Lives
“The idea to fundraise at horse shows came from my own per-
sonal experience,” she noted. “The horse show world is so con-
suming and when you’re in it, you don’t have time to do things like
charity work. When I was growing up, the word ‘charity’ wasn’t
part of my vocabulary. I was always at a horse show or at the
barn training, but I always felt that something was missing. I be-
lieve there is a human need to be able to do for others, and I was
hoping that a lot of other people in the horse world would feel that
way too.”
Jessica continued, “We structured JustWorld in a way that you
wouldn’t have to sacrifce your riding career in order to contribute.
Riders could still participate and become involved because we
built ourselves into an environment that they could easily access.
In the beginning, there were a lot of skeptics and people who told
me the equestrian world just wouldn’t care. I am very happy that
we have found the opposite to be true. We now have hundreds
of JustWorld Ambassadors representing 40 different countries.”
“It’s about inspiring youth to become more socially responsible
adults,” said Jessica. “One of the absolute best parts of what I do
is taking the Ambassadors and donors to visit the project sites to
meet the recipients, and watching them give of themselves and
become even more committed.”
Celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2013, JustWorld Internation-
al has raised more than $4.5 million since its inception in 2003.
Its infuence and presence within the equestrian community and
beyond continues to grow, with hundreds expected to take part in
this year’s annual fundraising gala on January 18 at Belle Herbe
Farm in Wellington, Florida. For Jessica, JustWorld International
has become her life’s work, and she wouldn’t have it any other
way.
“I love what I do,” said Jessica simply. “There is nothing that
could ever fulfll me as much as JustWorld.”
JustWorld Delegates
Visit the Orphanage in Honduras
Just Jump for
JustWorld: From
left to right: Hilary
Betaille, Marie
Lesterps, Kevin
Babington, Jessica
Newman and Tom
MacGuinness
(mounted) in front
of the JustWorld
International sig-
nature jump.
Photo Credit: Sportfot