Zipline Alumni News

One of the first healings I experienced as a child occurred on arrival at my first camp session at the A/U Ranches. My friend and I had planned to be at camp together. The week leading up to our arrival, we were skateboarding in our branch church parking lot, where we grew up. I hit some gravel and took a tumble, breaking my arm in the process.

It’s hard to believe we’re well into 2023! All of us are excited about what’s ahead: new staff in place, new programs on the horizon and, as always, new opportunities to see God’s unfoldment of every idea.

Zipline catches up with alumni of the A/U Ranches and DiscoveryBound – Andrew James Bowen, Kevin Valentine and Mary Jane Winquest – as well as Adventure Unlimited’s newest trustee, China Gorman.

How can you support Adventure Unlimited right now? If you’re coming to camp, shout it from the rooftops! DB events are happening online and in-person, across the country, all year around, for all ages; check out the DB event calendar to find something near you. And don’t forget to let the teens in your life know about applying for DB National Leadership Council and Compass later this summer. 

Fifteen years ago I had the privilege to be a camper in the whitewater kayaking program at Round-Up Ranch. At inspiration before our first day on the river, the counselor who was the program head shared that he always strives to approach the river with “peace and joy and power.”

There are ways to realize tax benefits from your generosity, even with recent changes in tax law. Here are answers to five questions you may have been asking to make the most of your charitable giving.

Zipline catches up with new National Alumni Board (NAB) members Howie Bay, Lindsay Richards, Brian Simpson and Lyssa Winslow, as well as Adventure Unlimited’s two newest trustees, Rob Collier and Steve Creighton. 

We are grateful for the alumni who have come to us with their ideas and constructive critiques for ways to continually build our programs and bolster the organization’s foundation. They have shared feedback with a sense of shepherding that a parent would hold for one of their own children.

We’re grateful to share with you news of new leadership that has unfolded for the organization.

For many A/U Ranches mountaineering alumni – plus those of us on the National Alumni Board (NAB) – the Mountaineering Reunion held during Mini Camp in August was a happy reconnection several years in the making.