NORWAY — New Balance Athletics and Norway Savings Bank have joined the Maine West initiative to offer cash rewards to youth programs serving the Oxford Hills, greater Bethel, and River Valley areas as part of the Second Nature Adventure Challenge.
In July the Oxford County Wellness Collaborative and its partners in the Maine West initiative committed to contributing $3,000 to area youth programs if 200 people signed up and logged 500 trail-based outdoor activities as part of the Second Nature Adventure Challenge. Additional contributions announced last week by New Balance and Norway Savings Bank bring the total cash reward available to area youth programs up to $5,000.
Second Nature Adventure Challenge participants have already exceeded the goal of 500 completed trail activities—with a current total of more than 625. To complete the Challenge and release the community reward funds, they say they need more individuals to sign up and record an outing over Labor Day weekend. “We’ve had a great response so far with more than 120 people signing up and tracking more than 625 trail activities since the beginning of July,” said Brendan Schauffler, facilitator of the Oxford County Wellness Collaborative and program coordinator for the Challenge.
“A big part of the program, though, is about getting more people active in healthy outdoor activities. We hope the opportunity to support local youth programming, and the generous new contributions from our friends at New Balance and Norway Savings Bank, will motivate more people to get involved and help us reach the goal of 200 participants over Labor Day weekend.”
Schauffler says they still need 75 people to sign up and log an activity on a local trail over Labor Day weekend to reach the goal of 200 participants. Once that goal is reached, Second Nature reward contributions will be made to the Mahoosuc Kids Association, Destination Paris, and Western Foothills Kids Association to help them get area youth involved in healthy outdoor activities. Signing up for the Second Nature Adventure Challenge is free and easy. Visit www.secondnaturemaine.com to get started.
Over the past year, Second Nature Adventure Challenge participants secured $9,000 in contributions to help area food pantries meet increased demand driven by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Second Nature Adventure Challenge is a project of Maine West (www.mainewest.org)―a partnership of local and regional organizations working to enhance community well-being in western Maine through increased collaboration across the economic, education, health, and conservation sectors. Maine West works across the Oxford Hills, River Valley, and Bethel-Mahoosuc areas of northern Oxford County, to provide network-based, collaborative programming in three areas: Active Communities, Broadband Access and Adoption, and Educational Attainment and Aspirations.
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