YES Nature to Neighborhoods
Dear Friends,
 
As the nights lengthen and fall turns to winter, we invite you to warm your hands around our virtual campfire. Storytelling powerfully represents the warmth of a campfire and the shining of light amidst darkness. Of course s'mores are a close second in reminding us of campfires, but they are much harder to send out over email! So, each Tuesday in December we'll be bringing you stories from YES's work and adventures in 2017.

As we share these stories with you, please consider helping make our work possible by making a donation during our year-end "S'more Campaign". Your contribution will provide leadership development opportunities and access to nature for low-income Richmond youth and families in the year to come.

Our goal is to raise $55,000 by January 1st, and every donation made between now and the end of the year will be doubled thanks to a matching grant from an anonymous foundation!

Please read on for our first story of the season.

Most Sincerely,
Eric Aaholm, Executive Director
The Richmond Rangers' Wintery Sibley Sojourn
Last year, YES and the East Bay Regional Park District cooked up something new: The "Richmond Rangers Adventure Crew" for 11-13 year-old YES Summer Camp alumni.
Through this collaboration, a group of fifteen YES campers spent 10 months together going on outings to regional parks every other Saturday. They hiked 16 miles during two overnight backpacking trips, gained outdoor skills like how to set up tents and make fire by friction, learned conservation science and natural history, and practiced their leadership skills by teaching their families their new skills and knowledge at monthly family nights.
We began the second year of the program this fall. So far the Rangers have experienced a camping trip at Point Pinole complete with cook-out and s'mores, an outing to Miller Knox Regional Park, a gorgeous and foggy day trip to Sibley Regional Park, and an environmental stewardship service day, removing invasive scotch broom.

Our October Richmond Rangers trip to Sibley Regional Park included many highlights:
from discovering a newt, to getting comfortable with hiking poles...
... and from exploring the awe-inspiring labyrinth to experiencing the pure joy of running through the foggy hills, laughing and grinning!
To see what we accomplished with your support last year, click here to see our 2016-17 Annual Report!
"My favorite part about today was seeing the low tide and making the best s'mores in the world!"
– Richmond Ranger, October 2017

YES Nature to Neighborhoods | (510) 232-3032 | www.yesfamilies.org