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The Upper
Columbia River Group has begun an exciting new program aimed
at serving the youth of the Spokane community. The Inner City
Outings program, a national program of the Sierra Club, is a
community based outreach program that provides opportunities
for urban youth and adults to explore, enjoy, and protect the
natural world. The goals of this program are to promote
personal development by linking cultures, fostering respect of
self and others and providing leadership skills, and to
promote appreciation and protection of our local and global
environments through a process of outdoor exploration,
education, spiritual growth and sharing. Each local ICO group
is solely responsible for funding of the program within the
local community. Today’s youth more than any previous
generation is suffering from a disconnect with the natural
world. Computers, video games, DVD entertainment systems in
cars, as well as fear of the unknown has led to a generation
more in tune with the man-made indoor world than the natural
world of the outdoors. Time spent in nature is not leisure
time it is development time. It is in nature that children
find their strength. The ICO program provides disadvantaged
youth with the freedom of the outdoors in a structured way.
While the ICO program focuses on inner city disadvantaged
youth, we are sure that Spokane and the surrounding community
will benefit greatly from what this program has to offer.
For more
information on Sierra Club Inner City Outings please see
http://www.sierraclub.org/ico/
If
you’re interested in taking part in the Spokane Inner City
Outings Program as a volunteer leader, or if you are
affiliated with a local agency or school and would like to
establish a working relationship with the program to serve the
youth of the Spokane community, please contact Chris Bachman
or Curt Chambers at
scspokaneico@comcast.net
Contributions to this program may be made directly to the
Upper Columbia River Group/ICO or if you prefer a
tax-deductible contribution, payment should be addressed to,
The Sierra Club Foundation/Spokane ICO. Tax-deductible
contributions may be submitted to the Upper Columbia River
Group or you may submit contributions directly to the ICO
administrator.
ICO Administrator
Sierra
Club Outings
85 Second St., 2nd Floor
San
Francisco, CA 94105
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