Mountain bikes, ramps, and jumps – OH MY! Over 45 girls and 25 volunteers took over Lake Padden Park in Bellingham, WA on August 26th to embark on a day full of shelter building, navigation, first aid, 10 Essentials, and mountain biking. Volunteers were welcomed with hot coffee and a variety of scones thanks to a local coffee spot Woods Coffee, who donated all the coffee and baked goods.
The Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department donated their shelter and field space which was perfect for registration, setting up all the breakout areas, and regrouping for lunch in the shade.
As the 45+ girls started to show up for their day of Wild Skills, Minta Allred, yoga teacher and Embody Love Movement facilitator prepped for an amazing “wag your tail” yoga session that had the girls slithering like snakes and repeating to themselves “I AM SO STRONG”! To say it was the most empowering and perfect way to start the day would be an understatement.
The Mountain Biking course was donated by Chris Mellick, owner of RRAD Bikes, and his crew who volunteered their time to give the girls top notch bike inspection and technical training. The biking volunteers are a part of a local female mountain biking group called The Kona Supremes, their positive and passionate guidance gave the young Girafficorns the courage they needed to get through the course.
Problem solving skills showed their full creativity as the girls navigated near the banks of Lake Padden, “saved each other’s lives” in First Aid, and learned how to make functional shelters.
The 10 Essentials portion of the day had a special addition with colorful tenacious tape gear patches courtesy of another local Bellingham company – Gear Aid.
The girls were all given goodie bags with several local sponsor’s swag. Huge thank you to Superfeet Worldwide Inc for the awesome Mountain hats, Whatcom Educational Credit Union (WECU) for the rainbow sunglasses and Embody Love Movement for the tie-dye bracelets.
The girls left the day with new friendships, fun takeaways, and a contagious excitement to get outside and adventure!
Photos courtesy of: Christy Pelland and Shari Karber
Big thanks to all of the sponsors who helped make this happen!
10/6/2017
Bellingham Ambassador
Shari Karber
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