As manager of a group home, she decided to round up 10 disabled and able individuals for a two-day venture in the Berkshire Mountains. It was a life-changing experience. Today Outdoor Explorations organizes adventure trips for people with and without disabilities. The organization also sponsors environmental service projects such as trail maintenance, river cleanup and revitalization of urban gardens. Imagine a person who has trouble mastering the alphabet being appointed the leader of a hike to the top of a mountain.
Pride is an understatement.
One day while Bolding was helping an East Palo Alto second grader with an English report, she began drawing with the little girl to help her come up with ideas. Suddenly I knew this was my special way of getting through to people. Bolding, now 23, estimates that approximately 40 people visit each day, participating in art workshops, computer graphics classes and writing exercises centered on themes such as communities and rain forests. The shortest days of the year are warmed by only three hours of thin sunlight, so people hibernate, become extremely isolated and, in some cases, risk freezing to death in their own homes. Pensley, age 27, tackled this problem by establishing the first community land trust in Alaska, where families or individuals can buy homes built on land owned by her nonprofit organization, Above the Ice Fog.