One Great River

         Developing Healthy Youth with a Resilient Mindset

The Mission of One Great River is to promote healthy lifestyles and prevent risk behaviors among children and youth.

One Great River is responding to current health risk behaviors among youth caused in part by the COVID Pandemic and by addiction to social media, risks such as:

   isolation among peers; 

   increased levels of anxiety and stress;

   loss opportunity for social development with diverse others; 

   sedentary life-style and unhealthy eating;

   disconnect from nature.

Youth, ages 13-17, are involved in experiential education, conducted in nature settings, to develop a healthy life-style with a resilient mindset. We involve youth in  a menu of five day-long activities.

BELONGING 

Youth, from diverse cultural backgrounds, are involved in an experiential day of play to building trust, team, and a sense of belonging. In doing so, we collaborate with other local, culture-specific, non-profit organizations.

LIVING HEALTHY

Youth are connected to nature through experiential education in trail running, hiking, and they learn tp prepare a healthy picnic lunch. We utilize primarily fresh whole foods and do not serve sugar-laden beverages.

BEING MINDFUL

Youth the proven life-skill of Mindfulness to effectively manage risk factors, such as anxiety and stress that contribute to problem behaviors, like illicit substance use and suicide.

FINDING WONDER

 Youth are introduced to photo journaling conducted in a nature setting to promote finding passion in life and set goals for healthy living, education and positive relationships.

BEING KIND

Youth donate a day of volunteer service to bring fun and joy to others.

Testimonials

Myra: 

One Great River was an amazing experience; and to this day I incorporate what I learned about living a healthy lifestyle and exploring nature with my own children. My family and I go camping, bike riding, and take frequent nature walks. 

Jennifer: 

One Great River was one of the best experiences of my life! It taught me so many life skills that I still use to this day! It changed my life and opened my eyes to a whole new world I never knew existed!! Thank you One Great River for teaching me the morals and values I needed to get through life.

Brandon :

 One Great River has impacted me in a tremendous way. It taught me how to work together as a team with people of very diverse backgrounds. I learned to eat healthy foods.

 The biggest influence on me was an adventure trek in Grand Teton National Park. As an inner city teen, I had never been out of the south. I had no idea what to expect. I saw mountains, elk , streams and forests everywhere. And learned to love the outdoors.

My future goal is to be able to get more diverse children in the program so that they can learn and have the appreciation to healthy eating, teamwork and the outdoors.