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letter from our Executive Director “Sunburst”
dear friends:
What an incredible 2023!
After my first full year as Executive Director at Life Adventure Center, I'm delighted to report that we've provided our resilience building programs to a record number of participants (over 3500!), strengthened our relationships with our community and our community partners, and overcome numerous challenges including storm damage that resulted in significant property damage for us. Through it all, our team, our board, and our community have continued to show up for each other and worked collaboratively toward our vision of more resilient people for a better world. I am proud of the work we have done and continue to do to further our mission.
Looking ahead to 2024, we have so much more to look forward to! We have several camps returning this year including Amachi, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bluegrass, and Mentors and Meals. Your generous donations, Extreme Adventure Challenge registrations, and registration fees from our public camp offerings help support our mission and let us continue the work of using outdoor adventure to build resilience in people affected by trauma. On behalf of the Life Adventure Center team, thank YOU for your support, kindness and encouragement this year. We couldn't do this work without our supporters and community. Thank you for all you do for us!
my best,
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Julie B.
DECEMBER 2023 Letter from Julie B
PAGE 01
Partner Spotlight: Mentors & Meals PAGE 02
Building Resilience: Coping Skills PAGE 03
Staff Spotlight: Aaron Wainscott 2024 Camps: Register Today! PAGE 04
Extreme Adventure Challenge
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Q & A: Hey Megan and TJ PAGE 06
Impact in Action: Terry Scariot PAGE 07
How You Can Help PAGE 08
Scenes from 2023
BACK COVER PAGE 01
Partner Spotlight: Mentors and Meals We are excited to highlight one of our most longstanding partnerships with a nonprofit right here in our backyard: Mentors & Meals! The goal of M&Ms, as they’re better known around these parts, is to enhance academic achievement through mentoring. Volunteers provide middle school students with free homework help, hot meals, and structured group activities designed to enhance academic achievement. M&M’s is especially special because of their incredible use of volunteers, from local high school students to college interns and qualified adult volunteers. Not only do they work with these students after school, the team at M&Ms also feeds their middle schoolers a hot dinner four days a week.
On extra special days and weekends, the kids at M&Ms come out to Life Adventure Center! For the last ten years, M&Ms kids have come out for “fun Friday,” overnight retreats, and summer camp, all designed to integrate with the things they’re learning (or sometimes the book they’re reading!) and to build their internal resilience through the outdoor adventure activities at Life Adventure Center. We can’t wait to continue our partnership in the years to come!
At Mentors & Meals, we love to bring our middle school youth to Life Adventure Center for team-building and other activities they would typically never get to experience. For many students, this is the first time they have been on the back of a horse or toasted marshmallows over a campfire. Playing crazy games, sleeping in the cabins, and seeing the sun rise are also some things our kids say they love the most about our time at LAC. In addition to what we do with homework help and hot meals, Life Adventure Center helps us build special bonds between students, mentors, and program directors that simply can not be done in a classroom setting.
Lisa Johnson, Executive Director M&Ms the circle up
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Building Resilience: Focus on Coping The holidays are often a prime time for stress and a time you may need extra coping methods in your toolbox. Coping methods are anything we use to navigate, eliminate, or overcome challenges and are just one of the things we help teach at Life Adventure Center.
Practice Mindfulness Amidst the hustle and bustle, take moments to be present. Mindfulness techniques, such as deep breathing or meditation, can help you stay grounded and reduce stress. Schedule short breaks to center yourself and appreciate the beauty of the season.
Connect with Others Loneliness can intensify during the holiday season. Reach out to loved ones for emotional support, to share your feelings, and create connections.
Practice Gratitude
Reflect on the positive aspects of your life to cultivate gratitude. Create a gratitude journal, noting the things you appreciate each day. Focusing on the positive can shift your perspective and enhance your overall well-being.
Connect with Nature Get outside! Put screens away and go for a walk or hike in the woods, free from distractions. This can help restore your inner calm by clearing your mind and allowing you to breathe deeper.
Practice Healthy Habits
Get back to basics: focus on getting enough sleep, eating healthy nutritious food, drinking enough water, and moving your body. When stress is overwhelming, making sure we take care of these needs first helps us have the energy to handle whatever else life throws at us.
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Staff Spotlight: meet our Financial Controller Hometown? Education? Lawrenceburg, KY born and raised! I moved back after graduating from the University of Kentucky with a BA in Accounting. Favorite things to do? I love to spend as much time as possible with my wife Katrina and daughter Mady. We love to travel, the beach, camping, hiking and all things UK sports. We also have 2 dogs, Violet and Winnie, that are included in almost everything we do. What exactly does a financial controller do? We develop financial and operational strategies, while creating and monitoring various control systems. And report timely, accurate financial data to the leadership team and board. Favorite Thing about Working at LAC I was an accountant or 20+ years in the corporate world before my current role with LAC. It was such a nice change starting my role at LAC and not only worrying about the bottom line but seeing the impact we have on our participants and the community.
Aaron Wainscott
Goal for 2024? To do my job well enough to serve as many participants as possible and to perform our mission to the fullest.
“Captain”
2024 Camps Live Now! spring break camp april 1st - 5th fall break camp sept 30th - october 4th
nature resilience camp
ages 6-9 june 17th - 21st
ages 8 - 12
summer adventure camp
june 3rd - 7th adventure seekers june 24th - 28th june 24th - 28th ages 13-16 july 22nd - 26th learn more at lifeadventurecenter.org/camps
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register your team today!
When: May 18, 2024 Where: Our 575-acre farm in Versailles Who: 50 teams of 4 people each (two heats) Ages 16+ What: A timed high-adventure challenge spanning our entire property. Participants will work in teams to race 3-5 miles and earn points by completing checkpoints before the clock runs out!
need more info? check out our race page at lifeadventurecenter.org/challenge the circle up
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T. J. Phillips Operations Director “Hypnum”
let’ s ta lk Megan Patrick Program Director “Juniper”
What are your favorite aspects of programming? TJ: I love being recognized long after a camp has ended by a former participant and hearing about their experience here. Being able to be a small part of someone's life but have long lasting effects on them is extremely rewarding and will always be a favorite part of my job. Megan: Not every group is stoked for our low challenge course elements but sooo much good can come from the work we put in [there]. I love to see a group develop and work together through the challenges we've put forth. I also really enjoy the small moments. The times where I get to walk with a group to another location or sit with them at the end of the day. It's in these moments where organic connections flourish and I am always glad to witness and be a part of those moments.
What makes our programming unique? Megan: Our staff and our property. [E]very member of our team is here because they too believe in furthering our mission and creating opportunities for the amazing participants we work with daily. [P]aired with our truly magnificent property allows us to create unique experiences geared toward individuals' resilience building & goal setting all within our property borders.
Most memorable experience here at Life Adventure Center?
TJ: With long-standing partners . . . seeing some of their participants grow, overcome fears and change over the year(s) is always very memorable. Megan: when we hosted Save A Warrior and the group did their reflection, one participant shared that I had told him " I appreciate you" [and]that this was the first time he'd heard that phrase. I realized how powerful words can be [and] how much impact we can create here at LAC with such simple actions. He gave me his The Journey Home coin at the end of the week. I will forever be grateful I got to be a part of reminding this veteran how much he matters to those around him.
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Impact in Action Meet our friend, Terry Scariot Terry has served as an advisor and volunteer at Life Adventure Center, working with us through numerous other organizations, including Save A Warrior and Refuge for Women. He's also been a dedicated volunteer for Project Healing Heroes, The Mission Continues, Smoky Mountain Service Dogs, and The Center for Courageous Kids. Terry has served as Board Member and CEO of Save A Warrior, Board Member of USA Cares, and Western Kentucky University Clinical Education Complex/Autism Center. Terry is a Lifetime Member of the Lexington Kentucky Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association. Terry previously held the position of Chief Executive Officer for Pan Oston, a manufacturer and marketer of retail fixtures. Terry has a Finance degree and MBA from the University of Missouri. He resides in the Lexington Kentucky area.
Lexington Police Families Terry has been instrumental in allowing us to work with Lexington Police Families to build internal resilience within their family units through our outdoor adventure programming. With Terry’s support, we have been able to offer several overnight retreats and family day activities for Lexington Police Families, as well as funding for numerous Lexington Police kids to attend our Adventure Camp for free. We have loved the opportunity to better serve these families and build their resilience, for a stronger, more resilient family unit and a stronger, more resilient community!
Our 2023 AFP-Bluegrass Donor of the Year We had the opportunity to honor Terry and his commitment to Life Adventure Center at the 2023 AFP Bluegrass’ National Philanthropy Day banquet. As our Executive Director, Julie Breitigan, shared in our remarks about Terry’s impact: “Terry's support has allowed us to connect trauma affected families with resilience building outdoor adventures. He has been a steadfast advocate in the community for the lifechanging work we do.”
Thank you, Terry! We appreciate you! Pictured (L to R): Julie Breitigan, Terry Scariot, Ann Miller - LAC Board Member
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support our programming! Our programming here at Life Adventure Center is specifically designed to build internal resilience - no matter what group we're serving. Each program is designed around one or more of the 7 Cs of resilience – Competence, Confidence, Connection, Character, Contribution, Coping, and Control, that our program team carefully sequences and debriefs with our groups - so the skills they learn can be applied long after they leave our property. Our work is important, and we know it doesn’t happen without the support of donors like you. All donations go directly to our scholarship fund to provide opportunities to underserved populations who would not normally have access to programming or experiences like what they can enjoy here at Life Adventure Center.
To learn more about us and what we do, and to help provide our outdoor adventure programming to other youth, please visit us at www.lifeadventurecenter.org! Your gift goes directly to our scholarship fund and enables us to provide camp scholarships to deserving kids affected by trauma from across Central Kentucky. We couldn't do the work we do without the support of donors like you! Thank you for all you do for us! the circle up
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year in pictures
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