All Out Adventures embraces winter weatherDate: 1/18/2022 NORTHAMPTON – As winter temperatures continue to plummet, the programming at All Out Adventures is heating up.
The nonprofit organization in Northampton provides outdoor recreation programming to people with disabilities, and their family and friends, as well as senior citizens, throughout Massachusetts. Over the course of each year, they provide programs in parks throughout the state at either no charge or a nominal charge.
For this winter, All Out Adventures is offering a mixture of different activities to residents of all ages from now until mid-March. According to Karen Foster, the executive director of All Out Adventures, activities this winter range from snowshoeing with seniors, veterans and people with brain injuries, as well as activities involving kick sleds. With kick sleds, Foster said people can either walk behind to use it as a balance aid, while others use the seat so other people can push them.
Locations for these activities range from the DAR State Forest in Goshen, Mount Tom, to Wendell State Forest Headquarters in Millers Falls, to Pearl Street in Gardner.
“Winter can be the least accessible time for a lot of people who have disabilities,” said Foster. “Our goals are really to help make winter accessible and fun.”
Aside from kick sledding and snowshoeing, All Out Adventures is also offering other outdoor winter recreation like skiing, ice skating and sled skating. “We really have something for everybody,” added Foster.
When it comes to equipment, Foster sad that All Out Adventures will provide what participants need for equipment, but if people have their own equipment, they are welcome to bring it.
While the activities stay consistent throughout the next couple months, people can sign up for an activity they are interested in on a day-to-day basis. People can go on the website, find days, programs, and times that work for them, and call or email All Out Adventures to sign up.
Conducting operations during the past couple of years with the pandemic has been a mixed bag, according to Foster, who said that All Out Adventures continues to evaluate the protocols to find ways to keep people safe. “For our participants coming out, people have just been so full of gratitude, because the opportunity to get outside and participate in programs…[outside] is one of the safest places we can be at,” said Foster. “For us an organization, it takes a lot more planning and thought than it used you. I think we’ve settled into that.”
Beyond programming and adjusting during the pandemic, All Out Adventures is also in the midst of purchasing a new van for driving staff and equipment to programs across the state. The van they have now, a 2006 Ford Econoline, has significant rust, needs repairs and does not include modern safety features such as side airbags.
According to Foster, the organization has raised close to $18,000 for the new van, which is enough at this point to put forward a substantial down payment and finance the rest of the money if they need to. According to their website, the organization is about 44 percent toward their goal, and Foster said the more donations the better so the less they need to finance.
Pandemic pending, Foster highlighted the Kayak-a-thon in September as a major fundraising source, where people paddled from Sunderland to Hatfield to Northampton. Beyond direct contributions, Foster also said people can consider how their skills or the skills of people they know can help contribute to the organization.
For example, at the end of 2021, Jason Greene of J. Greene Painting donated paint and his crew for the day to spruce up the recumbent trike shop at their 297 Pleasant St. location.
“It takes a village to run a nonprofit,” said Foster. “People can certainly think creatively for themselves, but then also using their networks to let people know that we need financial assistance, but then also community connections.”
As for the rest of the year, Foster said that the organization was able to obtain increased funding from a federal grant for veterans, which allows them to conduct more programs than they have in the past.
“We’re looking forward to increased programming for veterans,” said Foster.
Additionally, the organization worked with JFK Middle School to help them purchase a recumbent trike for one of their special education classes, and All Out Adventures is planning on working with the school more to help integrate some special education students into the cycling program at the school.
Beyond that, the organization will continue to offer their full slate of programs like cycling, kayaking, standup paddling, canoeing, and other programs throughout the year.
For more information about the programs, people can visit https://alloutadventures.org/ourprograms/#schedule. For more information on how to donate to the purchase of the new van, people can also visit this link: https://alloutadventures.org/.
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