Blog
A Shopping Extravaganza
Today Green and Peyton’s crew went on a little shopping spree. First, we went to the Boot Shack in south St. Cloud to get our boots and accessories. Each of us got fitted for our boots one by one (many of us had to try a couple different sizes). Once we found the perfect fit, we got to hear a nice little speech about how to take care of our boots and how to prepare them best for our expedition up North. When all was said and done, each member of the crew received their boots, extra laces, oil, two pairs of liner socks, and three pairs of regular socks.
After the Boot Shack, we made the trek across St. Cloud to Saver’s on Division Street. We went over the equipment list and made notes on what a good thing to buy there would be, and what a bad thing would be. For example, buying items such as your button up long sleeve and short sleeve at Saver’s is a great idea. On the contrary, buying your rain gear there would not be a very good idea. Each member of the crew bought multiple items, which included long and short sleeve button ups, nylon shorts and wind breakers.
Overall, we had a great night of shopping and laughs. On Thursday, we will be doing our first crew paddle, should be an awesome time!
Canoeing
This summer we will be posting blog entries from our guides. The first installment is a post from guide John Blee.
Monday night we went canoeing for the first time. The guys learned how to do the J-stroke, power stroke, draw, and pry. Everyone did very well, although we still need to practice a lot before we are ready for trail. We also got the maps out for the first time and looked at the options we have for our trip. The crew has really began our trip on a good note and I appreciate everybody’s hard work.
A couple of things that people can be doing at home are sanding your paddles and purchasing your boots. When sanding, remember to use medium or fine grit paper and only do the side without the LVI logo. Make sure you get all of the varnish off. You can hold your paddle up to the light to see what spots are left. Also, the boots are in at the Boot Shack and you can go buy them any time now. It takes a little longer than you might think (maybe 30 or 45 minutes). If you guys want to do either of these activities as a crew we definitely can. Just let me know the next time we meet.
Summer 2012, Here We Come!
Lots of news!
There’s been a lot of action in the past month or so here at LVI. Our parent information meeting went smoothly and a few crews are starting to meet. Base Camp is in the process of spring opening. Guide training will soon begin. We are thrilled this year to have added two crews back into the Far North program. They will be traveling to Hudson Bay via the Middle Track route. We have a wonderful group of guides and an outstanding bunch of Voyageurs–a recipe for a great summer.
Perhaps the biggest news lately is that we are in the process of acquiring a new bus! More to come on this soon.
Additionally this summer, at our reader’s request, we will re-post entries on this blog from the internal blogs each guide maintains for his or her crew. You can revisit your memories as you read about crews learning to paddle, beef jerky day, or setting a route.
We are still looking for two women to fill empty spots in two crews, both first session. If you know of someone who might be interested, please have her contact Fred at: fredrupp@cloudnet.com.
The ‘Photos‘ page has also been updated to include a few of pictures from this year. You can also sign-up to receive daily emails of posts to this blog by using the email subscribe feature on the right side of this page.
Thank you for visiting and welcome to Expeditions 2012, our 42nd summer.
Thank You!
Give to the Max day was a very important day for LVI. During the day we raised $7,578 from 93 donors in just 24 hours. This money will go to supporting our ongoing work to help build the leaders of the future.
If you have been a part of Les Voyageurs you may know we are run without any full-time paid staff. This means that your support goes directly to the heart of our mission, the trips. The sort of support we witnessed on Give to the Max Day reaffirms our commitment to providing Central MN’s youth with formative leadership experiences at a crucial time of adolescence.
GiveMN.org and the Give to the Max Day event have been great tools for our organization because they allow us to focus our attention on what matters–providing safe and meaningful trips, and not on the fundraising and paperwork. Give to the Max Day took about two hours of time to organize on our part. A couple emails, a few Facebook posts, and some website work and we were set. This saves us money that we might have otherwise had to spend on mailings and other means of fundraising.
Thank you again for your generous spirit on November 16th. We appreciate your trust and support. Many of the donors that supported us on Wednesday left comments on your GiveMN page. We think they tell the story best. Please visit http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Lvi to read the comments near the bottom of the page.
Here’s a little comparison of our past two Give to the Max Days:
2010: $4,050 from 83 donors. This number of donors placed us 32nd among ‘Greater MN non-profits.’
2011: $7,578 from 93 donors. This amount of money placed us 75th among ‘small non-profits’ in MN.
If you’d like to view the complete results or view a video titled ‘Thank you MN,’ visit: www.givemn.org. Overall 47,534 donors raised $13,418,376 for 3,978 Minnesota non-profits…in one day!
What a great 30 minutes!
From 7:39am-8:09am, we received $1,375 from seven wonderful donors. We’ve moved up the leaderboard among small non-profits. Small, defined as non-profits with annual budgets under $750,000, is a bit of an understatement for us. This is why Give to the Max Day and your support are so important to us. We can do a lot of great work with very little, but we do need your support. As a primarily volunteer run organization, you can rest assured that nearly all of your donation will go directly to making our trips safe and successful.
Thank you for your support. Check out the leaderboard here: http://givemn.razoo.com/p/2011-small-nonprofits
3am?
A number of former guides will be setting their alarms for 3:00am early tomorrow morning. Why is this you ask? It’s not for a night paddle and it is not to view the northern lights. No, they will be trying to donate for Give to the Max Day at a time when everyone else is sleeping, attempting to improve our chances at the $1,000 non-profit lottery, otherwise known as the ‘Golden Ticket.’
Each hour GiveMN.org will draw one donor from the previous 60 minutes and whichever non-profit that person donated to will receive $1,000. Sounds easy enough? This is how you can turn a $10 donation into $1,000 for LVI.
If you can fall asleep quickly or if you are a few time zones ahead, consider particpating with these former guides. Who knows, maybe your $10 will magically turn into $1,000.
Watch our blog all day tomorrow for updates and stories. Check out www.les-voyageurs.org/gtmd11 for more details.
Happy donating!
New Give to the Max Resource Page
We’ve put all the information for Give to the Max Day in one place. Please visit http://www.les-voyageurs.org/gtmd11/ to learn more.
Give to the Max Day is Coming
Last year, Give to the Max Day was a great day for LVI. We raised over $4,000 in 24 hours. We’re participating again this year.
Want to learn more? Read our latest newsletter here about Give to the Max day here: http://eepurl.com/gPfXL
LVI Garage Sale!
Need a tent? Stove? Water filter?
The end of another fantastic summer has come and we’re having a garage sale to celebrate. We have gear from years past that we don’t have a use for any longer, but could be used by others. We’ll have tents, stoves, water filters, LVI T-Shirts and decals, dehydrators, tarps, and more. Please note that we will be selling canoes at a later time. If you are interested in buying a canoe, please fill out our ‘Used Canoe Purchase Interest Form‘ Cash or check only.
Details
Dates: August 13th and 14th
Time: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. (both days)
Location: The Pit at Cathedral High School (just north of the North Gym)
(312 7th Avenue North St. Cloud, MN 56303)
Questions? Email us at: lesvoyageursinc@gmail.com and put garage sale in the subject line.
It’s not what happens to us…
…it’s how we handle what happens to us. The sentiment of this paramount tenet of Les Voyageurs has come to life in the way our two crews have acted since their early exit due to forest fires. On Sunday and Monday two of our first session crews were near a large fire in Ontario and after consulting with the Ministry of Natural Resources, the decision was made to pull them from their trip a few days early. All of the crew members had wonderful trips and are already letting the first three and a half weeks of their trip define their experiences and not letting their story be solely about fires. All the crew members have handled the situation well and the guides of the two crews followed protocols and used their training and decision making skills to lead their crews to safety.
One of the crews had to leave their gear and canoes behind as they were evacuated by helicopter. The fire spread quickly to the area their equipment was left and we are currently unsure of the status. Ontario fire officials will be flying over the gear to see if any of it is salvageable.
Forest fires are unpredictable, but technology has assisted us greatly in this area. Online maps can show us where fires are and satellite phones allow us to contact our crews. Ground to air radios (which our crews carry) allowed our guides to communicate with aircraft overhead to streamline the evacuation. Both our guides and the Les Voyageur program were complimented on our preparedness and composure by the Ontario Fire unit.
We’re leaving soon to bring up the second session crews and bring home the remaining two crews. The three second session crews have all redone their routes to adjust for the fires.
Follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter as we travel North. We will include updated photos on the website upon our return.
Have a great trip!
After a long bus ride, the first crews are officially on trail.
We have four first session crews up now guided by Mary Spehtmann, Kari Neutzling, John Blee, Mike Zittlow, Clare Wocken, and Alyssa Zieglemeier. These guides and their crews put in long days in the past few weeks to get ready and all the preparations are finally paying off.
You can view more photos of the this summer including the trip up to drop of first session by clicking on the ‘Photos‘ page of the website.
For those of you that remember your trip’s entry point as Wallace Lake you can see a map of the area by clicking here.
First session returns home on July 16 after we drop off second session. Follow updates on the website as well as Facebook and Twitter.
Countdown to 1st Session Departure
First session leaves on Sunday. The crews have packed their packs and the bus will be loaded tomorrow morning. Make sure to follow Facebook and Twitter for live updates on the drive up (at least when wireless internet is available).
Please visit our new ‘Photos’ page on the website for current pictures of the crew’s prep work.
You know you’re a Les Voyageurs guide when…
…you have two dehydrators buckled in the back seat of your car.
For two weeks, ten LVI guides have been going through guide training. They’ve been putting in long days and then meeting with their crews in the evenings. They’re all doing a great job and everyone is very excited about the summer.
Over the next two and a half weeks things will only increase as they have a five-day wilderness medicine course and a two-day whitewater course on the St. Louis River.
If you see a guide around, consider thanking them for their long days and hard work, or perhaps buy them a cup of coffee–they’ll need it!
Welcome to the all new LVI Website
Over the past few months we have been working with ’99 and ’00 LVI alum, John Pederson to build a new look for the official Les Voyageurs Inc website. We’re very excited about the new features and the clean look. Please check back frequently for new blog posts by Fred and other LVI staff throughout this summer, which is the 41st year of the program.
Current Voyageurs and their parents have access to internal tools like shared calendars, guide blogs, and photo albums. This year we will send seven crews North for 28 day expeditions.
Technology has come along from the days of the first crews went out pre-internet, but the core mission and objectives of Les Voyageurs are as steadfast as ever. We’re still helping create the future leaders of Central Minnesota and the world.
Enjoy and check out the ‘Contact’ page for details on how to give us feedback on the site.
