Summer is here and we're getting geared up for our busiest time of year. We'll be out surfing, backpacking, rock climbing, mountain biking and snorkeling with the kids just about every day. In this newsletter we're going to highlight a couple of trips from the past couple months. With our e-newsletter we're looking forward to sharing some of the amazing experiences and stories that take place out there on the trips every month. We do close to 200 trips every year and always need lots of help. If you're interested in helping out, click here.

 

Mammoth Trip 

We wrapped up our 2006 snowboard season with an incredible trip up to Mammoth Mountain with kids from the Monarch School. The Monarch School is a San Diego school dedicated to serving the local homeless youth population. 

 

We've been working with Monarch for years and snowboarding is always the kids' favorite activity. So this year we created a special Snowboard Club with ten dedicated members who met once a week. Each participant was required to set a personal or academic goal to strive towards throughout the club's duration. In addition, the club planned and carried out several fundraisers to help cover the costs of their trips. They raised over $1,200 from bake sales, their self-designed talent show, and sales of EPIC products. (See last story in newsletter)

 

For all of their hard work the kids were rewarded with two snowboarding trips. The first trip in February was to the local mountains of Big Bear, and then in late April we spent 3 amazing days at Mammoth! All ten members of the club did great up there on the mountain, each one progressing beyond their own expectations. We're also proud to inform you that teachers report that each of the club members has made significant improvement academically.

 

>>> Click here to watch a short video of the trip <<< (45 MB)

You've got to watch this, the kids are amazing! 

 

Special thanks to volunteers Mario Covic, Julie Warner, Maria and Mario Merenda for helping out. We would also like to express our gratitude to Mammoth Mountain, Kittredge Sports, Convict Lake Resorts, and the Cush Automotive Foundation for supporting the club.

 

Joshua Tree 

Each Spring and Fall we're able to do a couple camping and climbing trips in Joshua Tree National Park. The spectacular desert landscape always has a huge impact on the youth we bring out there. The trips this spring were no exception. The picture to the left is from our April trip to J Tree with The San Pasqual Academy. The San Pasqual Academy is a first-in-the-nation residential educational campus designed specifically for foster teens.

 

We've established an Adventure Club on the campus with the support of the William and Jane Schloss Family Foundation. The club meets once a month to organize and plan a trip for that month. Club members also plan fundraising events to offset the cost of the outings.

 

The kids from San Pasqual all had an amazing time climbing and camping in the park. Our staff had a great time collecting quotes from the kids. It always makes our day when we hear some of these: "This is the coolest thing I've ever done in my life", "This place is awesome...I want to move out here, I could live here the rest of my life", "Camping is awesome, I love being out in nature, I never want to go home."

 

ADHD Program Huge Success by Dr. Laurel Leslie

Since August 2005, Outdoor Outreach has embarked on a series of outdoor trips with a unique group of children and adolescents. Through partnership with the Neighborhood Healthcare community clinics system, Outdoor Outreach has identified a group of youth with severe Attention Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), learning disabilities, and or speech impairments and are taking them rock climbing on a monthly basis for one year. These youths are very impaired in school settings, many are in special education or in special day long classes, or need to take the classroom to take medications or get extra help. Consequently, they often have poor self-esteem related to their academic performance or due to being the brunt of the jokes from other classmates. They often have other mental disorders such as anxiety and depression.

 

Dr. Leslie and Dr. McFarland, the two physicians working with Outdoor Outreach, have been amazed by the results. One girl, who had been plucking out her eyelashes because of anxiety, is one of the best climbers, and uses deep breathing to help calm herself down as she faces challenges while climbing and has no problems with anxiety. Another boy, in a classroom for emotionally disturbed youth, has consistently been one of the most avid hikers and belayers, encouraging others as they climb and displaying no difficulties with relating to other youth.

 

Both doctors are excited to see these youth thrive and find areas in their life they can feel confident about themselves and their skills. The Outdoor Outreach staff has shown a remarkable ability to deal with the youth who can, at times, have difficult behaviors, but their consistent, gentle but firm instruction has been very successful.

 

**Special Note**

We have just finished the year long program. Dr. Leslie and Dr. McFarland administered surveys to the youth who participated. From the surveys we found 75% percent of the participants reported an increase in their ability to focus on one task at a time, 87% reported an increase in their ability to get along with others, and 100% reported an increase in their self-esteem. We are currently seeking funding to make this a permanent Outdoor Outreach program.

 

Surf's Up

With summer now here our surf program is in full gear. Surfing has become our core summertime program. We've got 10 surf trips on the schedule for June alone. Most of the trips are all day affairs taking place at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas or The Shores on Coronado. We also hold multi-day overnight surf camps while camping at San Onofre and South Carlsbad State Beaches. 

 

We're hoping to do our first Baja surf camp later in the summer. The surf trips are often the kids' first exposure to the ocean and are structured to ensure that each participant has a fun, safe, positive experience. Our primary goal at each camp is to instill that sense of passion for surfing and the ocean that every surfer has, usually from their very first ride. We want each of the kids to leave the beach thinking, "I'm a surfer." As with all of our programs, we strive to make sure that this is not a one time experience and the kids will have the opportunity to participate on multiple trips. We also have programs in place that allow the kids to earn their own surfboards and access the beach regularly to foster their new found passion. We always need lots of volunteers on the surf trips. Ideally we like to have 1 on 1 instruction out there in the water. If you're interested in volunteering please contact our Surf Program Manager Rachel Rabinor at rachel@outdooroutreach.org.

 

Special thanks to Global Surf Industries for making an annual donation of surfboards that makes this program possible.

 

Clive Art Reality Project 

Clive has chosen Outdoor Outreach as the beneficiary of its Art Reality Project. The project will be exhibiting and selling one-of-a-kind, custom painted Clive bags by up and coming artists across the nation. 100% of the proceeds will go to Outdoor Outreach to help sustain our programming. The bags are amazing! You can check them out and even purchase one by going to the Clive Art Reality Project webpage.

 

An EPIC Partnership 

Outdoor Outreach recently joined forces with EPIC: Environmental Products for Important Causes, to raise money for our programs. EPIC is a line of biodegradable, eco-friendly cleaning products whose sole mission is to reduce the use of toxic household cleaning products while donating to charitable organizations. For each $16.99 "Starter Kit" one of you purchases, $5.00 will be donated directly to our organization. If everyone supports this effort, we will reach our goal of raising $5,000 to support Outdoor Outreach programs-while also reducing the use of toxic products that often make their way to our coastal waters. Each "Starter Kit" includes hand soap, dish soap, all purpose cleaner and glass/mirror cleaner.

 

Please visit http://www.products4causes.com/ to purchase your "Starter Kit" today and learn more about the benefits of switching to all natural cleaning products. There will be a drop-down menu at the online store which will prompt you to choose Outdoor Outreach.