Out Our Front Door

OOFD Book Club next Wednesday, December 13 from 7-8pm. Death and Life of The Great Lakes by Dan Egan. Virtual or in-person (a home in Ukrainian Village) attendance welcome. RSVP below to get the location details. Happy reading.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd6CW-ocnl56AMbcetOhvdkQIgppFOCPky5tRtKzE84zRElOQ/viewform

And if you don't have time to read the whole book, its all good. You are still welcome to attend. You also have the option to check out the similarly themed Making Waves - Battle for the Great Lakes documentary - though it can be tough to find.

So pumped to party down at our Volunteer Appreciation Party tonight in Lincoln Square. For all the rad OOFD crew out there, check your email for the December Volunteer Newsletter that was sent last night with more details. Last minute and even tentative RSVPs are welcome.

And if you aren't a volunteer yet, but have been thinking about joining our most excellent crew of Welcoming Adventurous Volunteers that Educate, you can fill out the volunteer form here - https://www.oofd.org/volunteer.html

Heaps and heaps of gratitude to all y'all that donated to our Giving Tuesday Campaign. We set a really lofty goal of $2500 and came quite a bit short but in the end we brought in $1094 across 21 separate donations. It is only the first month of our year, so plenty of time to continue to hone our fundraising skills. Thank you to everyone that supports OOFD on the regular whether financially or volunteering or even just spreading the word and providing morale support. We appreciate the heck out of all y'all.
If you meant to donate and got busy or ran out of time, its all good. You can still donate here - https://donorbox.org/support-oofd-3

Amazing work and timing by our team to finish up our 2023 Annual Report by today! Our Fiscal Year ends on October 31, so you can take a look at a summary of this incredible past year here -
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFzssnJuyk/az1xQwE6eNUDw8bZuFYFqA/view?utm_content=DAFzssnJuyk&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=editor

And its Giving Tuesday. We are almost halfway to our goal to raise $2,500, so if you like what you see in that annual report, and want to help us make next year even better, consider donating here - https://donorbox.org/support-oofd-3

As we look back on 2023, here are a couple of our favorite reviews from riders that were a part of one of our bike camping adventures.

"Before this weekend, I had never bike camped, done a group ride, nor had I biked longer than 20 miles so I was nervous about joining on this adventure. AND, Out Our Front Door exceeded my expectations on how welcoming and supportive this community is. People were so great and it really made a fantastic weekend. I highly recommend Out Our Front Door for new and seasoned bike campers."
- Rider from this year’s Flock Off the Block Ride

"The experiences through Out Our Front Door have changed my life in a significant way. I took my first ride as a way to try out bikepacking before going on a solo trip. The kindness, adventure, education, and camaraderie of the OOFD experience has kept me coming back for multiple rides. I can’t wait to see what rides they’re planning for next year."
- Rider from this year’s Great Confluence Bike Camping Trip

Ten Reasons to Donate to OOFD on Giving Tuesday. Reason #10

Our Youth Program was reignited in 2023 after a few years off due to Covid. This year, we led 3 Educational Day Rides and a fix-a-flat workshop engaging 70 youth across all events. We did these with a variety of new and old partnerships including Greencorps Chicago, Chicago Green Ambassadors Program at the Field Museum, Bikes N’ Roses, Boxing Out Negativity, and The Recyclery.

In 2024, we will continue to support these partners with a variety of rides including a couple of bike camping trips! We run these rides for $0 for the youth that participate to assure money is not a barrier for youth to immerse in local nature on bike adventures!

If you want to help us continue to make awesome bike adventures happen for the youth of Chicagoland, consider donating to our Giving Tuesday Campaign here - https://donorbox.org/support-oofd-3

Ten Reasons to Donate to OOFD on Giving Tuesday. Reason #9

112 folks went bike camping for the first time in their lives with OOFD this past year and 93 folks rode the longest they had ever ridden their bike with OOFD in 2023!

We can’t begin to express how much those stats mean to us. We strive to be a welcoming community of adventurers aiming to break down barriers to local bike camping opportunities, so to see this many folks trust us to go on these types of adventures for their first time under the guidance of the OOFD crew is simply incredible. That is 112 folks that now have a greater appreciation for our local, beautiful habitats and recognize how accessible they are. It just takes a bike and an adventurous spirit. Its stats like this that help us know that we are living up to our mission.

If you want to help us introduce folks to the wonders of bike camping, consider donating to our Giving Tuesday Campaign here - https://donorbox.org/support-oofd-3

History of Deer Grove and Camp Reinberg

In a couple weeks, we’ll be riding out 30 deep on our annual winter bike camping/cabbining ride to Camp Reinberg in Palatine, IL - the Decemberg Ride (sold out this year).

Camp Reinberg sits in the first ever Cook County Forest Preserve, Deer Grove. In the early 1900s, naturalists were concerned with the destruction of habitat outside of the city limits as new towns and suburbs were systematically destroying natural habitats. So in 1905, the Board of Cook County hurriedly wrote a sloppy piece of legislation to preserve some native habitats. They bought up a bunch of land and their first purchase was the land now known as Deer Grove/Camp Reinberg. It took 12 years before a new, solid piece of legislation was written that would legitimately launch the Forest Preserves of Cook County which were THE FIRST OF THEIR KIND IN THE COUNTRY!

In their early years, they were used as both a nature area as well as an illegal summer camp ground as lots of folks would set up camp out here in the summer to save on rent and live off the land. This persisted into the Great Depression when the county actually granted permission to some folks to both live as well as grow crops on the land to subside and make a little money.

Peter Reinberghad studied flowers and horticulture for his entire life as well as climbed both the city and county political ladder. He was an Alderman for 26th ward (basically Humboldt Park). He eventually became the President of the Board of Cook County Commissioners in 1914, and thus was the first president of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, in which he oversaw the acquisition of more than 18,000 acres of land.

We love this quote from some of their original forest preserve booster literature. “Strange as it may seem to the citizens of Cook County who want to read of natural splendors from afar and so admire them, nowhere in the world can be found scenery that can be compared, in many respects, to landscapes right here at your doorstep.” We love when we see the OOFD rallying cry in local writings from over a hundred years ago!

Ten Reasons to Donate to OOFD on Giving Tuesday. Reason #8

Our Adaptive Program started in 2021 with a series of 3 day rides that culminated in a bike camping trip at the South Shore Cultural Center. That year, we partnered with Adaptive Adventures and rented bikes from them to make the ride happen. From there, we have been able to build our own fleet of adaptive bicycles that can accommodate a wide variety of disabilities. The program has continued to advance over the last few years in a variety of ways.

We had a weeklong bike adventure day camp last year in partnership with Emily Oaks Nature Center that culminated in a bike camping trip to Camp Dan Beard. That program won the Circle of Excellence Award from the Illinois Park and Recreation Association's (IPRA)Therapeutic Recreation Section. We also got one of our volunteers trained to be a trainer on Adaptive Sports Abuse Prevention (ASAP) by Impact Boston, and they led a series of ASAP trainings and policy building sessions with our volunteers.

And this past year, we built an awesome partnership with KEEN Chicago and their community for a bike camping trip to Northerly Island. We also successfully made all of our Family Overnights accessible to youth with disabilities, and we had three families with a youth with an adaptive need on each of our four family bike camping trip! In all, we welcomed over 20 families with an adaptive rider on a bike camping adventure over the 2023 season.

And for 2024, we have won a grant for $50,000 from Laureus to help grow our fleet of adaptive bikes and our programming. We will continue to welcome families and youth with adaptive needs on our rides and will pilot the integration of adaptive riders into our Adult Overnights.

If you want to help us make our adventures more accessible and welcoming to folks of all abilities, consider donating to our Giving Tuesday Campaign here - https://donorbox.org/support-oofd-3

You likely noticed we have our 2024 Rides schedule posted. And if you’ve been riding with us the last couple years, you noticed there are quite a few new things on that ride line-up, including as Shabonna DIY. What the heck does that mean?

We believe in adventure, from the adventures we find out pedaling to those we have on the backend of running a non-profit. Part of the adventure of running such a rad, creative, small non-profit is that we get to experiment, throw ideas around, and try new things. And as we work to reach as many folks as we can with our mission, it calls for some thinking outside the box.

We mainly guide bike camping trips. But for this ride, we are going to get a little adventurous in what that can look like and challenge y’all to make it to camp, on your own.

This is how this one will work. OOFD has booked enough camp spots, and we will have some guides there serving up a dinner at 7pm. The guides will have the fire going, and you’ll arrive to a community of welcoming folks. We’ll hang around and share stories of our day's adventures.

So for this one, you can leave from wherever you want, whenever you want, with any other friends that have registered. You can ride as fast or slow as you would like, and create any route you want to get there. This is truly a choose your own adventure. But know that OOFD will be there to welcome you to camp with a campsite, a fire, dinner, and even coffee and breakfast in the morning. And of course, a few educational spiels about the places you rode through during the day.

In the morning, you can roll out with the group back towards Chicago, or you can go on your own meandering Sunday ride, or even take the train back. It's totally up to you. So next September, consider joining us as we try something new.

Ten Reasons to Donate to OOFD on Giving Tuesday. Reason #7.

We are part of an ecosystem of incredible organizations in Chicago that focus on everything from conservation to outdoor recreation to education.

Giving in the United States reached $427.71 billion in 2018 and individuals gave 70% of that. So your donations to nonprofit organizations truly creates the bulk of the funds that so many orgs rely on to keep doing the amazing work they do. So even if you don’t support OOFD this giving season, we challenge you to think about a cause or org that you appreciate, that you want to see them continue to do their important work, and donate to them.

Here’s a few to help get your brainstorming get started: Openlands, Friends of the Forest Preserves, Alliance for the Great Lakes, Block Club Chicago, The Recyclery, Bikes N’ Roses, Boxing Out Negativity, Active Transportation Alliance, KEEN Chicago, Working Bikes, West Town Bikes.

Feel free to drop any orgs you would like the OOFD community to consider donating to in the comments section of this post.

Ten Reasons to Donate to OOFD on Giving Tuesday. Reason #6

Support our amazing crew of volunteers from trainings to appreciating them.

We had 48 different individuals lead bike camping trips for OOFD this past year alone, many of them leading 2-3 rides each and some even leading as many as 7 over the year! We recognize that these folks are what make OOFD as special as it is. We wouldn't be able to do what we do without them, and they deserve to be showered in gratitude. We always are finding new ways to appreciate them from supplying a $5000 annual budget towards trainings they might want to take, free and discounted spots on our overnights, awesome swag including custom guide patches each year, and even this year, our first ever custom 5 year anniversary present for the 8 guides that have been around that long (the gift and the 2023 guide patch are a surprise that we’ll reveal at the annual Volunteer Appreciation Party).

Many of y’all have been on our annual Battle to the Dunes ride in early June. That is one of our longest running and biggest rides each year. Last year, we had over 50 folks ride the 70+ miles out there to camp at Dunewood Campground which is part of the Indiana Dunes National Park.

And some might wonder, why is the ride called Battle to the Dunes? Surely, part of the inspiration is simply that it can be a battle to get there on a bike. It's long, often hot or raining, and 70 miles is often the most miles many of the riders have ever done in a day in their lives.

But the main inspiration for the name came from an excellent book written in 1983 called Duel for the Dunes by Kay Franklin and Norma Schaeffer. It is an incredible 100+ year history of the battle between industrialists and conservationists over the land of the Indiana shoreline and the dune habitat. The cast of characters is expansive from Henry Cowles, Lee Botts, The Prairie Club, Bethlehem Steel, Standard Oil, The Save the Dunes Council, Senator Paul Douglas, and even President Kennedy.

Illinois Senator Douglas famously said, “When I was young, I wanted to save the world. In my middle years, I would have been content to save my country. Now, I just want to save the dunes.”

Thanks to the long history of advocates for the dunes, a bill passed in 1966, and Congress authorized a 6,500 acre Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. JFK found a compromise for his old friend, Senator Douglas. This deal gave most everything that the port and steel industries had asked for and only half of the conservationists’ demands. Regardless, it was seen as a huge victory for conservationists. The real great thing is that it has nearly tripled in size since then, now having about 15,000 acres!

You can learn more about this epic, century long battle for the dunes in The Duel for the Dunes. There is also a great documentary that covers the topic called Shifting Sands: On the Path to Sustainability. Or you can join us on our ride to the dunes, though the land that has been fought over, and we’ll tell the story along the two day adventure.

Image art by Kyle Riley - https://www.instagram.com/kylerileysartsandcrafts/

Ten Reasons to Donate to OOFD on Giving Tuesday. Reasons #4 and #5.

#4 Keeping our rides affordable and accessible for adventurers on any budget
#5 Good percentage of our expenses go straight into our local county, state, and national parks

4. Our bike camping tours are easily half the price of other bike camping tour nonprofits tours and about a tenth the price of the high end bike camping tour companies. Shoot, there are 3 hour walking tours in Chicago that cost amore than our 2 day overnight tours. And our tours include a guided, educational bike route led by some of the most rad adventurous volunteers all of Chicagoland, a campsite for the night, campfire with wood, dinner, some beverages, breakfast and coffee. We are not crazy even though many folks often say we are with our prices. But we come from humble beginnings. And we don't want to lose touch with that and with folks that have similar beginnings. We don’t want to price anyone out. We are here to break down as many barriers to local adventures in nature as possible, especially the barrier of price.

5. Our bike camping trips almost exclusively stay at local county, state, and national parks so big parts of our annual expenses go straight to supporting these crucial lands, resources, and organizations. Especially as we have been begun booking campsites for next year, we have been sending $1000s to these parks just over the last couple weeks.

If you want to help us keep our prices crazy low and/or help us contribute to our local parks , consider donating to our Giving Tuesday Campaign here - https://donorbox.org/support-oofd-3

Ten Reasons to Donate to OOFD on Giving Tuesday. Reason #3.

We have focused almost solely on growing our programming over the past few years. The idea was that was where our mission lived. That is what got us so jazzed. Still does.

As we grow as a non-profit org, we are learning from our partners and community of non-profits here in Chicago and from classes we take. And it is obvious that we can use some improvement on our fundraising. For some context, here are some OOFD fundraising totals over the past couple years (outside of the annual Hootenanny Fundraiser Party)

2022 - $4365 (7% of our total income)
2023 - $5574 (5% of our total income)
2024 - Goal = $9000 (5% of projected income)

We still are hyper focused and driven by our programming and making sure our mission reaches as many adventure seekers in Chicagoland as possible. And, we are learning to reach out to our community to ask for support to help us continue on the path towards being a next level, sustainable org that will be here for years to come to serve our home, from its humans to its habitats.

If you want to help us reach that next stage as a growing non-profit that is learning to grow on a variety of levels, consider donating to our Giving Tuesday Campaign here - https://donorbox.org/support-oofd-3

The Out Our Front Door Vision Statement

This is always fun to reread. Written at a kitchen table in 2015 when the idea of OOFD was just taking shape. It still so much informs what we do and why we do it.

We Believe in Adventure.

Through adventure we come to better understand ourselves as well as our world, from our neighbor down to the smallest piece of prairie grass. Through this growth and shared experience, we learn to love with a more open heart and inspire others to do the same. Appreciation for one’s self and one’s environment flourishes in the atmosphere of adventure. In the challenge. In the self-reflection. In the vulnerability. In the completion. In the stories shared long after the adventure is over. Stories that put the twinkle of inspiration in the eyes of the listeners.

​Adventures make the story of one’s life. We believe in the unlimited growth potential found in adventure, and we will help to inspire others to open their front door and make the stories of their lives. To learn about the beauty of their local area. To realize that adventure doesn’t always mean a trip to a distant place. That adventure lies right outside at any moment, and that moment is always ours to embrace as we see fit.

Go on a bike camping trip and see if you won’t be telling that story for years to come! And then . . . And then . . .! Learn about the unique structures around you. From wetland plants to skyscrapers, statues to fellow humans! Appreciation deepens as one better understands the miracles inherent all around them. In the wildlife. In the stories of those who came before us. In the creations of humans. In the creations of nature.

And Chicago is not just city sprawl surrounded by boring corn fields! It’s not! But you’ll only come to see its magic that relaxes right beneath your nose when you get out the front door! Explore. Get to know your home. Connect with it. Celebrate it. Become an ambassador of it. Help preserve and improve it for this generation and those to come. Finally, be like us, get so darn inspired that you simply have no other option but to share your adventurous spirit with others, thus aiding them to go out and explore as well!

Ten Reasons to Donate to OOFD on Giving Tuesday. Reason #2.
Momentum with our Adaptive Program.

Coming out of an awesome bike camping trip for youth with adaptive needs in September, our partner on that event, KEEN Chicago, told us about a grant we might be a good candidate for from Laureus Sport for Good. It felt so over our head. The smallest possible amount was $50,000. We have never received one for more than $12,000 (and that was major)! We needed all sorts of special federal government verifications and numbers. It was a slog and felt like such a long shot.

But with the incredible vision of our board member, Bradley Fisher, and help from Laura at KEEN and even the folks at Laureus, we got the application in and won it!
The majority of the grant will go towards buying 4 brand new, top of the line Hase Pino recumbent tandems - the premier bike for folks with disabilities. These bikes range from $8,000 to $13,000 a piece! And we get to buy them through a local, Chicago bike shop, Cosmic Bikes in Jefferson Park! The rest of the funds will go towards helping fund our Executive Director salary so Glenn has a bit extra time to support this program.

If you want to contribute to us making awesome adventures happen inside of our Adaptive Program, consider donating to our Giving Tuesday Campaign here - https://donorbox.org/support-oofd-3

10 Reasons to Donate to OOFD on Giving Tuesday. Reason #1.

We made a plan to focus on sustainability and program growth and are sticking to it.

In 2020, we wrote a 5 year plan (2021-2025).

The Goal - sustainability for the org.
The Method - slowly scale up to a full-time paid Executive Director (ED).
The Path - increase our programming (specifically on overnight rides) and participants so our mission can reach more adventurer seekers.

2021 - 258 participants. ED - 0 paid hours a week
2022 - 228 participants. ED - 10 paid hours a week
2023 - 433 participants. ED - 20 paid hours a week
2024 - Aiming for 555 participants. ED - 28 paid hours a week (including health care and paid time off)!

We were able to grow our overnight ridership 90% from 2022 to 2023 - 228 riders to 433 riders!

We have not always hit every goal of our 5 Year Plan, but we have adjusted, adapted, and made sure we stayed on track to reach the ultimate goal of sustainability through supporting a full-time Executive Director role as well as growing our programs and supporting our volunteers.

Through this growth, we haven’t asked for donations very often. We’ve been too busy bike camping. As we grow as a non-profit, and as Glenn grows into his role as Executive Director, right now is a perfect time to ask. The end of the season, of the year. Giving Tuesday. The Holidays. This is when folks donate. And this is when we have a little lull in our programming to make a deliberate ask.

So please consider donating to help us continue to grow OOFD towards sustainability so we can assure we will be here for years to come to continue living our WAVE values and being Welcoming Adventurous Volunteers that Educate. - https://donorbox.org/support-oofd-3

Newsletter! 2024 Rides, Big Grant Announcement, Giving Tuesday, Gratitude, Upcoming Events, and more - https://www.oofd.org/trail-blog/november-21st-2023
Photo by Amy Terkelsen on Sun Harvest Ride

Yes, momentum. We got it. 433 folks bike camped with us in 2023, plus over 100 guides. And more to come in our 9th season next year.

We continue to grow the organization, systems, and structure of OOFD with a hyper focus on making us a sustainable org that will be around for many years to come. As we do that, we are learning to fundraise.

The main lesson from the classes a few of us have taken on fundraising is simply to ask. Year over year, we haven’t asked for your donations often outside of the annual Hootenanny event. But here we are. Giving it a go. Asking you to donate $5, $20, $100, shoot even $250 to our org. We only accept donations if you believe in adventure and think that getting a diversity of folks out into nature on bikes learning about local history and nature is a good thing. So if you do believe in this and want to see us to continue our most excellent mission, please consider giving - https://donorbox.org/support-oofd-3

And keep an eye out for our 10 reasons to donate to OOFD this Giving Tuesday.

Adult Overnight Program 2023 Recap
The Adult Overnight Program hit a next level in 2023! We added some new rides including the epic, 80 person ride Flock Off the Block ride to Camp Shabonna. We added 2 new free rides, one for essential workers and one for bike shop workers. We filled 90% of the available paid overnight slots (7 out of 10 sold out) including selling out the 5 day SWMI ride and having more folks than ever on the 4 day Ride to Valhalla in Door County. We assembled some great crews to scout a couple of possible new overnight routes/locations to see if they would be a good fit for the 2024 ride line-up. And just generally improved our operations, tracking, and overall effectiveness of the program. Huge, huge props to Breanna Bertacchi as the Adult Program Director and Rachel Shultz who came on as the Assistant Program Director and absolutely helped take the program to the next level! The ride locations and dates are set for next year. And if this year is any indication, next year is going to be so so good. And goodness, choosing 10 pictures for this post is next to impossible.

Day Rides Summer Recap
We have chatted about doing day rides for years at OOFD. There is so much to explore around and they just feel like a great intro to our types of overnight adventures. We ran one last year for Labor Day down to Pullman. This year, a group of amazing OOFD volunteers rallied together and decided we were going to make these more official! And they made 2 awesome day rides happen, one up to the Skokie Lagoons with some great spiels about the ecology and history of the area; followed by some BBQ and beers at Une Annee brewery. They also led one out to the Morton Arboretum (with a train option available) and got an awesome tour of the space thanks to some great folks we met at the Wild Things conference in the winter. Major props to Ashley Lyons for leading the charge on making these rides happen and bringing her trademark adventurous, curious, and welcoming spirit to them. These were a huge hit, with all of them filling up within days of us posting them with each ride including about 15 folks each. So these day rides will be back next year to be sure, so keep an eye out.

Monthly Hangs 2023 Recap - The first Tuesday of the month, you will find a group of bike adventurers hanging out somewhere in the city, usually at a park, sometimes around a fire or maybe in a bar. There usually is a crew or two of OOFD guides that meet there early to discuss logistics and plan for the upcoming adult bike camping trip. And sometimes a volunteer will lead a brief mechanics training whether its how to fix a flat or repair a chain. In previous years, these usually would draw somewhere between 10-20 folks each month. But this past year, they grew tremendously! The hang at Metropolitan in March had over 40 folks out, and we never looked back with usually close to 30 if not 40 folks at pretty much every hang! It has been a blast of a year, and being able to come together with our community from seasoned guided to folks that are new and just interested in learning a bit more about OOFD. We wrapped up the 2023 Hangs last week with a great one at Monk’s Pub. We will restart them in January, so stay tuned for next year’s Monthly Hangs Lineup.

Our Where the Wild Things Grow Program, during our 2023 fiscal year, ran 4 rides to do environmental service, and all of them sold out with 17-20 folks registered, so with guides, we had over 80 folks sign-up to participate in the program over the past year. We did an awesome ride from Arc’teryx Bucktown to La Bagh Woods in January, our 7th annual ride to the Major Taylor Trail to help the Friends of the Major Taylor Trail for their Earth Day event. We kept the tradition alive with Patagonia Mag Mile for the third year in a row by leading a group from their shop to help with some restoration at the Bill Jarvis Migratory Bird Sanctuary. And we wrapped up with a big ride from Cog Cycles and Yarn up to Emily Oaks Nature Center in Skokie. Our new fiscal year just started this month and the program started strong with a great group riding out from Bikes N’ Roses to Bob Mann Woods to do habitat restoration in partnership with the Shedd Aquarium this past weekend. Major props to Maura Benson for completely organizing that ride, her first as the Assistant Program Director. And as always, major gratitude to Matt Weiss as the Program Director for the Where the Wild Thing Grow Program.

Earlier than ever before, the 2024 ride lineup is here!

Our team has been working extra hard to finalize the calendar for next year and we are beyond excited to announce our 2024 Adult and Family overnight rides!

We know you like to plan in advance and schedules get crazy, so save the date for our upcoming season and an epic bike camping adventure.

Ride registration is set to open before the end of the year. Stay tuned for more ride details and info on how to sign up coming soon. Until then, get pumped.