A New Path
For the past eight months, I elected to suspend Origin Expeditions and its operations. With uncertainty around the pandemic, this year presented an opportunity to reflect on the progression of the organization and consider which path to take moving forward. With some new perspective and the pandemic seemingly nearing resolve, I am eager to share some new foundations of our organization.
2020 Annual Report
Each autumn, we follow up with our community and sponsors to let everyone know how the year went. Although there were many obstacles this year, we still made tremendous progress and hosted a group of 14 high schoolers on a weekend program in October. Below is a summary of our year and details about money raised and spent.
Pilot 2-day Intro Program
I am thrilled to announce that we had a successful launch of our two-day introduction to backpacking program last weekend. We partnered with Kingsley High School to host 14 of their students for two days along 3.6 miles of the North Country Trail. Our mission for this program was to introduce teens with little or no exposure to the backcountry and inspire them to attend future programs.
No Trips for 2020, Accepting 2021 Applications
With the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the United States, we have decided that there is no way we can confidently conduct trips while keeping clients safe. We have flip-flopped several times throughout the summer on being able to operate or not. Unfortunately, this is our final decision for the year 2020.
Now Accepting Rolling Admissions
We are excited to announce that Origin Expeditions is now accepting rolling admissions! Both clients and groups can submit applications at any time using our application page, and as funding becomes available to host trips, those who qualify will receive invites to attend. Each group or individual can choose to pay for their trip, have us set up a crowdfunding campaign for them, or apply for a full or partial scholarship.
Paying It Forward
With new partnerships in the Traverse City region, I am thrilled to announce that we will be hosting a 5-day canoe trip on the Manistee River from August 4 through August 8 of 2020. With the help of our partners and contributions from Founders Brewing Company, the Sand Hill Angels, the Richlie Family, and several other generous donors, we can host a total of ten scholarship recipients on this trip!
Update on a Summer 2020 Program
We received a large donation from Founders Brewing Company, which helps us tremendously in reaching our goals this year. Combined with individual contributions, we'll be able to purchase gear to host up to seven individuals on our trips. This was our biggest goal in 2020 and a massive milestone for Origin. This gear provides the foundation we need to allocate future donations towards scholarships, making fundraising much more accessible and helping us serve our community more efficiently.
Summer 2020 Trips Cancelled
Several things have brought us to this decision, primarily the risk of bringing individuals from different households to one gathering while the virus is still present. The Manitou Island Transit is also not running boats this season, eliminating any possibility of running our two Manitou Trips. Also, the National Park Service has issued this statement:
COVID-19 Update
In response to the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19, we have made several changes to our summer programs.