May 21, 2019: For Immediate Release
Kelowna, BC – Morningside Rotary club teams up with Elevation Outdoors to keep local youth rolling.
Every summer for the past 10 years Elevation Outdoors has been running their “Live to Ride” mountain bike program. This summer thanks to the financial support of the Kelowna Morningside Rotary Club the program will be running on a new fleet of mountain bikes to ensure the participants have the best experience possible while learning how to mountain bike. The recent sale of Elevation’s first fleet of bikes, also purchased with the support of the Rotary club, and discounts provided by Cyclepath Kelowna and Giant make up the difference in this most recent purchase.
“Morningside Rotary Club of Kelowna are incredibly passionate about supporting youth and youth programs in our community. The donation to Elevation Outdoors to assist with their biking programs furthers the opportunities available which can keep our youth interested and engaged to ensure they can reach their full potential.” Says Sheila Perepalkin, President of the Morningside Rotary Club.
The “Live to Ride” program runs for 7 weeks with rides twice a week introducing first time and beginner riders to the sport of mountain biking. With the support of a team of volunteers the program helps riders build a passion while learning about themselves and building relationships with peers and the volunteers. The bikes will also be used in the delivery of Elevation Outdoors popular “Intro to Adventure” summer camp programs and in their new “Leaders in Action” program starting this Fall.
“By owning our own bikes it allows us to keep our program costs down and ensure all participants have a proper sized bike while in our program.” Says Mike Greer, Executive Director of Elevation Outdoors. “The continued support from the Morningside Rotary Club has allowed us to expand our fleet this year to continue making a positive impact in our community.” The ever-popular program runs in July and August and is filling up quickly.
Elevation Outdoors is a local charity that provides outdoor recreation programs to youth in our community with full scholarships and partial scholarships available for their programs to ensure all young people have a chance to find a passion to keep them healthy and active for life. In 2019 Elevation has started to open up a limited number of paid seats in each program to allow for youth from families outside our eligibility requirements to take part as a way to increase the sustainability of the organization.
Information and registration for the “Live to Ride” program can be found online at https://elevationoutdoors.ca/programs/mountain-biking/
About Elevation Outdoors
Elevation Outdoors was founded in 2007 by Tori Hanson and a small group of dedicated individuals who recognized a need in our community. From our first ever Learn to Shred program with 6 participants, our focus has always been on breaking down barriers and helping young people find a passion to help them lead a healthy, happier life. Since then, we have expanded our program offerings to include snowboarding, rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking and sailing. All of our programs have full scholarship seats available for any eligible youth or families to ensure all young people have an opportunity to develop a healthy passion. Starting in 2019, we have expanded who can access our programs so that families that do not meet our eligibility criteria can now pay for a seat in our programs as we believe that everyone deserves an opportunity to find a passion and learn from our amazing mentor team.
Elevation Outdoors provides all the required equipment for its different programs so that all participants need to do is show up with a positive attitude and a willingness to try something new. Transportation from a common meeting point is also included in our programs to ensure that each youth has an opportunity to participate. Each program is facilitated with the help of our team of volunteer mentors who are there to share their passion for the activity, and to build a positive relationship with the participants. We strive to keep ratios in our programs at 3:1 or lower so that our volunteer mentors and participants are able to have quality conversations and build a relationship while in our programs.
Since our first program in 2008, we have been able to help hundreds of young people find a new passion and develop more healthy lifestyles while learning skills that will stay with them for life.
Website | Facebook | Video of the program
For Media Inquiries:
Mike Greer
250-870-9094 Ext 2