By Dan Minnich | Executive Director and Co-Founder
Every summer, Waypoint selects a goal or theme that we build our summer programs around. This year is the Summer of Exploration. At Waypoint, we challenge ourselves and our community to explore the world around us and explore within ourselves. We teach about what we call the ‘challenge zone.’
The challenge zone is the emotional space between feeling completely comfortable and feeling overwhelmed. It’s a place where we might be unsure, doubtful, where failure is a possibility and maybe we’re a little afraid – but this is the place where we learn, where we grow, and where new possibilities come into focus. This is the place where all of us find the power to explore achievements once thought out of reach or maybe never even considered. Every Waypoint program is intentionally designed by our staff to invite each participant to their personal 'challenge zone.'
For example, each Waypoint program is staffed with two or more specialized professionals (many on our staff have LCSW, OT, and M.Ed. backgrounds) in addition to specailly trained volunteers whom we have selected and trained oursleves. Many of our volunteers are also professionals in related fields such as OT, PT, special education and more. Staff are also advanced instructors trained in adaptive systems and resue techniques specific to that activity and working with individuals with disabilities. Waypoint provides genuinely adaptive, clinically-informed adventure programs that are tailored to each individual's needs and goals. We don't just take you on a fun ride - we teach and empower you to challenge yourself and explore all that's possible.
Disability Pride Month
July is Disability Pride Month! In NC, we recently celebrated our growing partnership with the North Carolina State Parks and the North Carolina Friends of the State Parks with a cookout lunch a fun day of exploring our adaptive hiking and kayaking equipment on Lake James. Please check out more about our awesome partnership with the North Carolina State parks here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Da5vho_Ofzo/ and here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DY2qUECFU3X/?img_index=1.
Vermont Mad River Ride
"Over the next several years, my world started to get smaller and smaller."
That’s Waypoint Adventure board member Pete Quinn describing life after the onset of his disability. After years of riding and racing in Vermont’s Mad River Valley, an upright bike no longer worked for his body. But the desire to ride those mountain roads never went anywhere. So when Pete said he wanted to get back out there, our Co-Founder & Executive Director Dan Minnich found a way to say YES.
In June, we held our second annual Waypoint Adventure Club ride through the Mad River Valley in Vermont. Riders with and without disabilities took on the climbs together, on adaptive bikes provided by our partners at RAD Innovations, whose technology matches the ride to the rider.
The Waypoint Adventure Club exists because we believe experiences like this belong in everyday life. People with and without disabilities, challenging themselves and exploring together.
By the end of the day, Pete shared, “I feel like I’m the luckiest man in the world today.” Please check out a moving video about the ride here: https://youtu.be/CCLevn9_DAw?si=_Q6RW79zor3BJWxE
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