Fundraising Letter

Hello. My name is Adam Kenworthy. I will be graduating this May from Colorado State University. Following graduation I will be biking across the country to raise money for a non-profit organization called Big City Mountaineering (BCM). I would really appreciate it if you could take the time to read my story and the organization that I am raising money for.

There is a reason I chose BCM besides the fact that I believe it is a great organization. My school years were a difficult time for me. I seemed to always be getting into trouble, or example: fist fights with other kids, being disrespectful to teachers as well as getting in trouble with the law. I was definitely not living up to my potential. I was out of control outside of school as well, with bad behavior and disrespecting my family. The bottom line was - I was making poor choices.

My parents finally decided I needed a time out, to get my life back in control. I needed to go to a place where I could break away from my daily lifestyle back at home. They felt I needed a healthy setting with some great mentors. For me, this setting was in the outdoors. SUWS of the Carolinas became the turning point for me. At SUWS I was thrown into the middle of nowhere, deep in the woods for 6 weeks. We had to live a pretty basic lifestyle. We had to purify our drinking water. The food consisted of lots of oatmeal, rice, lentils, peanut butter and pitas. Our packs were made by rolling all of our belongings into the ground tarp we slept on and tying it tightly together with a cord. We then tied the blue tarp that we slept under to the top and used webbing to make straps like a backpack.

At SUWS I was stripped down to the bare necessities and pushed farther mentally and physically than I thought I could go. Our guides, who were essentially mentors, took a tough approach when talking with us and discussed many difficult topics. We dove into the question of how our lives become so out of control. This was a very powerful experience for me. It gave me a sense of courage, confidence and maturity that I did not have before.

I then enrolled into a boarding school in Massachusetts where I did another Outdoor Program for 6 weeks before I finally entered the campus. After 12 weeks living in the woods I emerged with a new sense of simplicity and confidence. While I was in the woods it clicked for me. I thought to myself - why am I making the choices I am when they affect me and my family in such a negative way. Life does not have to be this hard.

Who would have guessed that when I left the East coast 14 months later I would have graduated from high school a full year early and be presented with the Deans Award for Academic Excellence. This was quite a transformation. Upon leaving the program I returned to Des Moines and worked at a program called STARS where I mentored kids in their after school program. Now I am in my last year of college at Colorado State University majoring in Natural Resource Recreational Tourism. Immediately following my May 12 graduation I will be starting my solo bike ride across the country. I will begin by dipping my rear tire in the Pacific Ocean in Washington State.



Mission Statement: The mission of Big City Mountaineers (BCM), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is to provide urban teenage youth in need of positive adult mentoring a challenging and safe wilderness experience led by qualified adult volunteers.
The BCM program is designed to build self-esteem and positively impact teenager's beliefs about themselves and others. BCM's program has shown to improve a teen's belief with regard to positive values, social competences, positive identity, and support. The core of BCM's program is an extended wilderness summer trip for at-risk teens. BCM conducts its outings in a 5:5 ratio of adult volunteers to teens, a unique format that transforms the program into an intense and meaningful mentoring experience.
Big City Mountaineers targets youth organizations that work with under-resourced teens in urban centers. Some organizations are residential facilities where the teens live; others are after school programs that reach out to youth in outlining communities. Fourteen to seventeen year-olds are typically chosen by the adult team member from the youth group to come on BCM trips as both a reward and a chance for a different perspective. The BCM experience is an opportunity for these teens to continue their development as strong individuals capable of doing anything they set as a goal.
Although BCM uses an unconventional setting for its program, the goals are similar to those of traditional youth development agencies. Specifically, the BCM program positively impacts the teen's beliefs with regard to age/ethnic diversity, self-esteem, environmental awareness, and interpersonal relationships. As a result of the exposure and relationships formed with adult volunteer role models, these teens become better equipped to make critical career, educational and healthy lifestyle decisions. Additionally, because the BCM experience is provided within the scope of a larger program (that of the youth agency partner), these agencies also bring important goals to BCM that are reinforced through the program activities.
The teen participants are drawn from pre-existing youth development organizations in many urban centers throughout the country. These agencies recognize the benefit a program like BCM brings to their youth and have incorporated BCM programming into their offerings as a means of reinforcing each of their respective organization's goals. BCM currently runs programming in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Colorado Springs, Madison, Chicago, Miami, Washington DC, New York City, and Boston.
Examples of agencies that incorporate BCM into their program offering include:
∑ Boys Girls Club Seattle
∑ City Year
∑ ROCK - San Francisco
∑ East Oakland Boxing Smartmoves
∑ East Oakland Youth Development Center
∑ Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch
∑ Girls Inc Alameda County
∑ Denver Kids
∑ College Track - East Palo Alto
∑ Rawhide Boys Ranch
∑ Christopher House
∑ CO Youth At Risk
∑ Colorado I Have A Dream
∑ Harlem RBI
∑ Sequoia Teen Resource Center
∑ YMCA Urban Services - East Bay
∑ Youth Organizations Umbrella
So why……. The BIG bike ride and the fundraising.
I feel fortunate that my parents were able to provide me numerous opportunities. I am no different than many kids that are out there heading down the wrong road. The difference is that I was able to receive help. I worked with mentors who pushed me to new levels, challenged and encouraged me. They had me make goals for myself and follow through with them. I would like to think that I would have figured things out for myself, but who knows.

There are many kids that do not have these sorts of opportunities. I want to give back and try to help some of those teenagers. I feel strongly that the wilderness is a very powerful and life changing place. I think that the outdoors can do amazing things for people just like it did for me.

As far as the BIG bike ride goes…. I see it as another adventure and challenge. It is another way of pushing myself mentally and physically. It is a goal that I have set out to do. I have been talking for years about biking across the country to celebrate my completion of school, a journey that was anything but easy. In the back of my mind I wanted to raise money for a cause. Then one day I saw information for Big City Mountaineers and it all clicked. I can do this bike ride to celebrate finishing school. At the same time I can give another person an opportunity to experience something potentially life changing in a similar setting as to what I experienced years ago, which has ultimately brought me to where I am today.
I have a goal of raising $5,000 for Big City Mountaineering. $5,000 is enough money to send 12 different teens through the program. Although this is my goal, I would love to exceed it. It will take a lot of different people to make this happen. I am asking you to donate whatever you feel you can to Big City Mountaineering. Just look what your monies could do.
$50.00 Support a Teen for a Day $100.00 Support Two Teens for a Day
$250.00 Support a Youth Group for a Day $400.00 Support an Teen for His/Her Entire BCM Trip
$2,000.00 Support an Entire Youth Group
In order to make this trip happen I am also going to need to raise money for the costs that go along with this trip. I am going to minimize costs as much as I possibly can. There is one thing that I cannot ignore, which is food. The route that I have chosen is just over 4,000 miles, which I am trying to do in 8 weeks. It is going to end up being around 75 miles a day. I will be carrying everything that I need with me. I will be burning a lot of calories each day, and it is important that I stay well fed and hydrated if I want to make it all the way across. I would like to raise an additional $1800 towards food. This ends up being $30.00 a day. I hope I will not have to spend that entire amount per day but I am trying to plan ahead for emergencies. I will be camping most nights but hopefully I will be invited to stay at people's houses along the way. Any donations will be greatly appreciated.
Please make checks to Big City Mountaineers (in the memo section write Adam Kenworthy).
Mail to: Big City Mountaineers
820 Spyderco Way
Golden, CO 80403
(Please include your address because BCM will be sending you a tax receipt)
Also if you would like to assist me with my expenses make checks to Adam D. Kenworthy (in the memo section write travel expense)
Mail to: Adam Kenworthy
4603 Oakwood Lane
West Des Moines, IA 50265
The money will be deposited in an account set up at First American Bank. Any extra funds in this account at the completion of my journey will be sent to BCM.
I appreciate you wanting to be part of this journey with me. At the completion I will let you know how much was raised and I will also fill you in on the adventure. Thank you so much!!
Sincerely,
Adam Kenworthy

Adamk311@gmail.com