Education United States Project #33416

Access to Adventure for People with Disabilities

by Waypoint Adventure

Access to Adventure for People with Disabilities

Project Report | Nov 28, 2018
Waypoint Adventure November Report

By Dan Minnich | Co-Founder

Groups of rock climbers saying "happy holidays!"

Thank you so much for your support of the Waypoint mission! Your investment will empower youth and adults with disabilities to take on new challenges this year through adventure education programs!

This fall we have been working in both Boston Public Schools and Somerville Public Schools. Adventures have included hiking, ropes courses, indoor rock climbing and indoor kayaking. Students have been challenged to work on decision making and problem solving skills. Waypoint's Leaders In Training series has been progressing. LIT's went on an overnight backpacking trip in September and rock climbing in October. Tomorrow evening the LIT's will be rock climbing again at a local climbing gym. Prior to climbing a panel discussion will take place for LIT’s and families. Several young adults with disabilities will share their perspective on what it took for them to transition to adulthood successfully.

One new adventure type we have tried this fall is tandem cycling. On two Sunday’s in September and October groups of people with and without disabilities met at Waypoint’s office. After introductions and practicing the basics on our property, the groups set out for rides along the Minuteman Bikeway.

Here is how we described the experience of one participant and his father in a letter sent to Waypoint supporters earlier this month.

“He doesn’t need me!”

That is what we heard Nicholas’s father, Tom, exclaim with tears in his eyes and both fists pumped in the air as his son came around the corner on a tandem bicycle with a Waypoint Adventure volunteer.

Nicholas is a 17-year-old young man with Down Syndrome. He rode a bike for the very first time with a supportive group from Waypoint this fall. And, through this experience he, his dad and the entire team discovered HE CAN!

Thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, the Waypoint vision of making adventure education accessible is becoming a reality.

Isolation and a lack of access are major barriers for many people with disabilities. We know that 35% of youth with disabilities are completely uninvolved in their communities.

On a Waypoint adventure all team members belong. Everyone is challenged to take risks.

Together we learn to smash self-limiting attitudes. This year 1,200 people participated in our unique programs. With your help, we can purchase adaptive equipment and provide scholarships to include even more people in 2019.

Help us show people of all abilities that THEY CAN in 2019 by making an investment in Waypoint today!

Thank you for your generosity and partnership!

Sincerely,

Dan Minnich

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Aug 31, 2018
Project Report 8/20/2018

By Dan Minnich | Co-Founder

Kayaking on Walden Pond

Support raised through GlobalGiving enabled Waypoint to include over 1,100 individuals with disabilities in adventure education programs in 2017. To increase capacity and include more individuals each year, Waypoint hired two additional staff members – one of which has been a Special Education Teacher for the last 5 years. She has added many strategies and supports to help include individuals with severe intellectual disabilities and autism in our programs. Waypoint also invested in more adaptive kayaks and a second vehicle, which has enabled multiple programs to take place in different locations on the same day. In short, your investment helped build Waypoint’s capacity to serve more youth and adults with disabilities through accessible adventure education. Most participants in Waypoint’s programs have no other access to this type of support.

Our goal of expanding programs for people with disabilities has been met over the past year. In addition to the progress mentioned above, Waypoint is facilitating a second year of the Leaders In Training Program and launched a new Inclusive Adventure Club to bring together people with and without disabilities to share in the costs and rewards of an adventure. Waypoint also partnered with multiple new organizations to provide programs including the Epilepsy Foundation of New England that recruited constituents and helped to organize programs in Lincoln, RI, Worcester, MA and Portland ME. Yet, Waypoint is only in year three of an ambitious strategic plan to double the yearly number of individuals served by 2020.

25% of Waypoint revenue comes from program fees. This means that the remaining 75% comes from community investments. Recognizing that nearly 80% of charitable giving in the United States comes from individuals, Waypoint is prioritizing individuals as the best place to invest time and energy going forward. In 2018 Waypoint added four new members to the Board of Directors to help with the task of networking with new individual donors. These members include Chris Keyes, Head of Publishers Clearing House Boston; Laura Malnight, Mom and Advocate; Tom Rollins, CFA at Fidelity Investments and Jan Wade, Director of Boston Ability Center. We are thrilled at the level of passion and expertise these individuals bring to the Waypoint team and confident that their support as well as that of the more than 350 other individual donors over the past year will help to sustain and grow the mission and vision of Waypoint Adventure.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to partner with you to provide adventure education opportunities to youth and adults with disabilities.

Sincerely,

Dan Minnich, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director

Links:

Video Describing Program Impact

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