Sierra Club’s Military Family & Veterans Initiative Supports Expedition Denali

February 21, 2020

Sierra Club2The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) announced with gratitude this week that the Military Family & Veterans Initiative (MFVI) will award $2,500 in support of Expedition Denali.

The MFVI, a joint endeavor of Sierra Club and The Sierra Club Foundation, will underwrite the costs of Expedition Denali team member and military veteran Stephen Shobe as he and a team of African Americans make an historic ascent of North America’s highest mountain to inspire youth of color to discover the nation’s wild places.
 
The mission of the MFVI is to ensure those who defended our country and their families get to enjoy the land they served.

“Sierra Club is committed to ensuring all people get outdoors and enjoy our great country. Our nation’s service members fought for this country and can be great role models for all people to get outside. We wish Expedition Denali all the best!” said Stacy Bare, director of Mission Outdoors, which houses MFVI. Bare is also a veteran.

Shobe’s thirst for adventure has taken him all over the world, including fighting fires for the U.S. Forest Service, flying helicopters, and summiting four of the world’s seven highest summits. He is grateful to the project for backing his involvement in Expedition Denali.

“I am so grateful for this opportunity to be involved in this historic project,” Shobe said. “And I am thankful to the Sierra Club’s Military Family & Veterans Initiative for recognizing the work that military service members and veterans have and are continuing to do for this country.”
 
Beyond helping fund Shobe’s participation in the expedition, various Sierra Club outings groups are partnering with NOLS to run outreach events in June while the Expedition Denali team is on the mountain. The longest and most strenuous day on Denali for Shobe and his eight teammates will be the summit day. This five-mile (roughly 10,000 steps) day will run from High Camp to the summit and back. It will also be the day that the various Sierra Club outings groups take military and veteran families and community members on their start to 10,000 steps in the outdoors in solidarity with mountaineers. This is just the beginning of a two-year outreach program that will take Expedition Denali team members across the nation to speak to youth of color about the importance and accessibility of outdoor adventure.
 
Sierra Club and The Sierra Club Foundation join Expedition Denali supporters REI, The North Face, the Foundation for Youth Investment, and the White House’s Let’s Move Outside! Campaign to help NOLS, a nonprofit school, launch the expedition and outreach programming.
 
NOLS is still seeking partners to make Expedition Denali possible. To learn more about Expedition Denali visit https://expeditiondenali.nols.edu/home. 
 
 
About NOLS

Founded in 1965 by legendary mountaineer Paul Petzoldt, NOLS is the leader in wilderness education, providing awe-inspiring, transformative experiences to 16,000 students each year. These students, ages 14 to over 80, learn in the wildest and most remote classrooms worldwide—from the Amazon rain forest, to rugged peaks in the Himalaya, to Alaskan glaciers and Arctic tundra. Graduates are active leaders with lifelong environmental ethics and outdoor skills. NOLS also offers customized courses through NOLS Professional Training, and the NOLS Wilderness Medicine Institute is the leading teacher of wilderness medicine worldwide. For more information, call (800) 710-NOLS (6657) or visit www.nols.edu.

About Sierra Club Mission Outdoors

Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. Inspired by nature, we are 2.1 million of your friends and neighbors, working together to protect our communities and the planet. Through direct programming, public education and advocacy, Sierra Club’s Mission Outdoors program combats the growing divide between America and the outdoors by increasing opportunities for all to improve their overall well-being by exploring and enjoying the natural world. Read more at http://www.sierraclub.org/missionoutdoors.

About The Sierra Club Foundation

The Sierra Club Foundation works to educate inspire and empower humanity to preserve the natural and human environment. Founded in 1960, The Sierra Club Foundation is a public 501(c)(3) charitable organization as determined by the Internal Revenue Service, and provides resources to the Sierra Club and other nonprofit organizations for charitable programs that protect and restore the environment.

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Written By

Casey Adams

Casey worked as a writer and PR specialist for NOLS.