Laura's 3000km Bike Fundraiser

Laura’s 3000km bike fundraiser

I’m Laura, an outdoor adventure instructor at Adventure Specialties Trust in Auckland. 

We run outdoor adventure programmes for all kinds of young people, from student leaders to youth offenders, and we always include a deeper purpose in our programmes. The outcomes of our programmes include:

• increased physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual wellbeing,
• increased social skills,
• a deeper sense of inbuilt character strengths,
• an increased desire to connect with  nature, and
• increased manaakitanga (kindness, empathy, respect, generosity and a desire to uplift others).

Find out more about the life-changing work that we do here.

I’m passionate about the work that we do and and I’m keen to get more wāhine (young women) out to experience the wilderness!

What is this fundraiser about?

I will be cycling the length of Aotearoa New Zealand, starting from Cape Reinga and finishing in Bluff.

It is about 3000km in total.

I estimate that it will take me about a month and I am planning to complete the journey in March/April 2022.

Why am I doing this?

I will be raising money to make a dream of mine turn into reality.

I want to create an outdoor adventure programme for young women.

It will be a 10-day wilderness journey with 10 girls from high schools in Auckland. I hope to get ten Year 11 students.

The goal is to attract young women who are seen as potential leaders but are may be needing that little extra push of encouragement. 

The 10-day journey will be designed to empower, challenge, grow and connect girls with their own identity, and the whenua (land) around them. They will participate in physical activities, such as biking, tramping and kayaking. Like all our programmes, it will also involve activities with a deeper purpose, like facilitated discussions about life, relationships, challenges, and more. This will aim to help young girls learn how to negotiate the challenges they may face in their lives.   

As a female I know the importance for young women to be empowered by other women, their peers of the same age and also women who are older than them. 

I personally have found the outdoors to be a space to connect with, be strengthened, challenged, a place of healing, and also a space to get stoked on and create some pretty awesome memories and stories. I love it!! 

Where will this lead?

Once I have raise the funds, found the ten students, and run this pilot programme, I hope that the students and their families, schools and communities will see the benefit, word will spread, and we can continue to run similar programmes in the future!!! 

My long-term goal is to create an ongoing outdoor adventure programme that focus on empowering wāhine (young women). This can become a programme that Adventure Specialties can provide on a regular basis, in both the North Island and South Island!! 

Please support me!

Please sponsor me on my 3000km bike ride so that I can raise enough funds to create this wilderness programme that I’ve been dreaming about.

I need to raise $24,000 which works out to $8 per km. Please donate below to help me cycle to my goal!

I would so greatly appreciate you helping me help them!! Let’s create a platform for wāhine/girls to know that their voices and identity are of value, and can do anything they put their minds to!! 

There are 3 ways that you can donate:

Follow my adventure!

I will be posting fundraising updates and also my cycling adventures here:

• This webpage (www.adventurespecialties.co.nz/lauras-3000km-bike-fundraiser)
• The ‘Latest News’ blog (www.adventurespecialties.co.nz/latest)
• Instagram  “Lauver7” (www.instagram.com/lauver7)
• Facebook “Laura Vernon” (www.facebook.com/laura.vernon.313) 

THANKYOU!!!!  

Who is Adventure Specialties Trust?

Adventure Specialties Trust was founded in 1984. We use outdoor adventure to grow great communities and build Everyday Heroes. 

From kayaking to rock climbing to mountain biking to abseiling, Adventure Specialties Trust uses outdoor adventure to create positive change in people’s lives.

It is fun. But it is so much more than that.

Our programs have incredibly powerful, life-changing outcomes. Like improved wellbeing, increased social skills, strengthened character, increased participation in nature and manaakitanga (kindness, empathy, respect, generosity and a desire to uplift other).

Every year, we work with over 6000 youth in Christchurch and Auckland. These include youth leadership groups, teens struggling inside the school system, youth offenders, people with disabilities, school camps, social services organisations like Oranga Tamariki, young mums and parents, plus a variety of schools and community groups.

Here’s a snapshot of what we get up to …