ROLL BOLDLY Spring/Summer 2024
Robert Kapen (seated in his AdvenChair), his wife Nelly (hugging Robert, center) and other members of Team Kapen, recently enjoyed an active vacation in Yosemite National Park. Much like their trip to Machu Picchu in 2021, AdvenChair allowed them to explore the incredible scenery beyond where the pavement ends.
From World Youth Day to International Film Festivals, AdvenChair keeps the good times rolling.
BY GEOFF BABB
Christina Nguyen was born with Cerebral Palsy. Last summer, she was able to take part in a pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal in the AdvenChair.
It’s been almost a year since our last newsletter and not surprisingly, a lot has happened in AdvenChair’s world. Here is a brief rundown to get you up to date.
Last summer, we helped a young woman from Renton, Washington fulfill a dream of attending World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal with a group of friends. Her story of exploring the Camino de Fatima and witnessing the Pope address a crowd of 1.5 million in 100-degree heat is nothing short of miraculous.
The Grand AdvenChair journey to the bottom of the Grand Canyon in 2022 inspired a Central Oregon woman to produce her first documentary film, DREAM BOLDLY The Grand AdvenChair. Marcia Volk, our web designer, spent more than a year working on the project and completed it in November 2023. Since then, she has been busy entering film festivals throughout the country and has already picked up an award for it, and is officially selected for another. Read all about Marcia’s labor of love and where you can see the film later this month here.
Also, during the last 10 months, we have completed two more production runs and now have 20 AdvenChairs out on the trail, serving veterans in Pennsylvania; students in Indiana, California and Oregon; families in Idaho and Tennessee; and a half dozen in use at Outdoor Schools in Oregon.
AdvenTours guided accessibility hikes in the AdvenChair are now available at Smith Rock State Park and other locations in Central Oregon
We are extremely excited to announce that those numbers will be increasing soon thanks to a new partnership with Wanderlust Tours that enabled us to attain a $45,000 grant from Visit Central Oregon. The grant will allow us to introduce AdvenTours, group outings for people with disabilities and their families/friends, led by Wanderlust Tour guides. Read more about this unique collaboration here.
In addition to AdvenTours, we have several other events planned close to home and in the Pacific Northwest. Go directly to our Events Calendar to view the entire summer and beyond. The weather is warming up and the trails are starting to get nice and firm. We’d like to thank all of the volunteers who have helped assemble new AdvenChairs and assisted in so many other ways. We can’t wait to see all of you out in the wild again.
My thanks and gratitude to Cam Davis for writing, Chris Michaelis for the layout and Marcia Volk for making sure the moving parts of this exciting newsletter are all in order.
Onward!
Geoff Babb
AdvenChair goes to World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal.
Christina and the AdvenChair were engulfed by the hoards at first to the Pope in Lisbon, Portugal
In its relatively brief period of existence, AdvenChair has made some seemingly impossible physical endeavors quite doable for people with disabilities – reaching Machu Picchu and venturing to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to name a couple. But now, thanks to an intrepid youth group from St. Stephens Catholic Church in Renton, Washington, it can add a life-changing spiritual sojourn to its list of accomplishments as well.
Christina Nguyen, a 23-year-old member of the diocese, was born with Cerebral Palsy. Last summer, she wanted to take part in a pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal with 29 other young adults from her diocese. Centered around an inspiring address by the pope, World Youth Day would draw about 1.5 million young adults from all over the world, an international gathering larger than the Summer Olympics and the World Cup combined.
Read more here.
Looking ahead, in late July/early August, Christine Nguyen will join 30 other young adults from the Seattle area on a pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Portugal, featuring an extensive trek in an AdvenChair along the Camino de Fatima. Read her story below.
And that’s not all of the exciting things that are happening this summer:
Crusaders for America, a veterans group in Pennsylvania, has also joined the AdvenChair family and will be hitting the trail soon.
The AdvenChair team will be participating in Destination Rehab’s SOAR 2023 at the Bend Pavilion on Saturday, July 8.
On August 25-27, an AdvenChair will be rolling on a part of the Olympic Discovery Trail in Port Angeles, Washington in support of Ian’s Ride, an event to help raise awareness for accessible trails.
Young or old, anyone can now roll boldly to places once thought inaccessible knowing they are riding on the most advanced, most versatile and most durable all-terrain chair on the market.
Onward!
Geoff Babb
“DREAM BOLDLY The Grand AdvenChair”
Coming soon to a theater or film festival near you.
They say no person is an island. That’s especially true when that person needs something that doesn’t exist yet to make his or her life better, and then invents something that not only fulfills the need, but benefits those immediately around him, and countless other people in similar circumstances in different parts of the planet.
Clearly that’s the case with Geoff Babb and his AdvenChair invention that had a ripple effect on dozens of people who journeyed with him to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back two years ago. And recently, the story of that journey inspired another woman so much, it moved her to create a 48-minute documentary film called DREAM BOLDLY The Grand AdvenChair.
Marcia Volk and her husband Mike live across the street from Smith Rock State Park, and run SmithRock.com, the primary website for users of the park. Marcia became intimately familiar with Geoff and the AdvenChair team while developing the AdvenChair website. Marcia has held many jobs throughout her long career, but it took a story like the Grand AdvenChair to finally get her to fulfill her first love, which was film-making.
"Geoff’s incredible and infectious will to dream boldly made me want to do the same," said Marcia. "It was always my dream to create a documentary, and now we’ve both realized huge dreams.”
Marcia wrote and directed the documentary, and shared editing duties with Mike, who also assisted with motion graphics and audio engineering. The couple also shared Executive Producer credits with Geoff and Yvonne Babb. The project took approximately a year to finish, but the work of having it seen by the public at various film festivals and streaming online is just beginning.
The film was a Winner of Merit at The Impact Docs Awards this year, got officially selected for the LA Inderpendent Women in Film Awards, and is currently being considered for awards in eight other film competitions, including Cannes, France. Residents of Central Oregon have two opportunities to see this inspiring film in the near future. It will show Thursday, May 23 at the Belfry in Sisters and on Tuesday, May 28 at the Open Space Studios in Bend.
Both events will start at 5:30 pm, with doors open at 5:00 pm, and feature a panel discussion and Q&A with Marcia, Geoff and other members of the Grand AdvenChair team until 7:30 pm. Tickets are free with a $10 suggested donation and reservations are highly recommended.
AdvenChair teams up with Wanderlust Tours for AdvenTours. And sharing a healthy grant.
What do you get when you combine AdvenChair, the leader in all-terrain wheelchairs, with Wanderlust Tours, Central Oregon’s leader in guided all-terrain adventures? You get AdvenTours, outings that allow people with disabilities to explore Central Oregon’s most iconic places with expert guidance.
You also get a team that worked together to secure a $45,000 grant from Visit Central Oregon’s Future Fund, a program that supports local tourism projects benefiting both visitors and residents. The team was one of 15 recipients who shared a portion of $450,000 in grant money. The funds will allow AdvenChair to order two more brand new chairs and make them available for Wanderlust clients, many of whom have been asking for an all-terrain chair so that a disabled family member or even a wobbly grandparent could come along for the outing.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Geoff and the AdvenChair team to facilitate accessible tours in the Bend area,” said Courtney Braun, Owner of Wanderlust Tours. “For more than 30 years, it’s been our goal to get folks into the great outdoors and let Mother Nature do her work, inspiring and invigorating everyone who visits her trails. And now, those with mobility challenges can join us for adventures in these beautiful areas, and come away with great stories to tell.”
Read more here.
