Dear Friends,

I hope this winter season finds you surrounded by love and warmth. As we enter the new year, I find myself reflecting on the journey of 2024 and eagerly anticipating the opportunities for growth and success that lie ahead. I am deeply grateful to each of you for your continued support of Outdoor Education Adventures (OEA) and for helping bring our vision to life.

This past year has been a mix of highs and lows, as many of you are aware. Rather than dwell on the challenges we’ve faced, I’d like to focus on some of the remarkable milestones we achieved in 2024 and share our exciting plans for 2025.

2024 Milestones:

  • Over 3,700 children and youth spent a total of 24,939 hours playing, adventuring, and learning outdoors with us.
  • Our talented educators facilitated more than 1,500 hours of enriching outdoor experiences through school field trips, day camps, homeschool and after-school programs, nature school for children ages 3.5-5.5 years, a child-caregiver program for kids under 5, and community events.
  • A storage shed was installed at our Nature School site, providing a dry space to store program materials.
  • We hosted our first annual fundraiser, Into the Woods!, a benefit to support Outdoor Education Adventures.
  • June 2024 marked the launch of our 10th summer camp season!
  • Additional seasonal staff were hired to support our summer camps, allowing our directors to focus on essential administrative tasks. This milestone is bittersweet, as it marks the first summer in 10 years that Neyssa and I didn’t teach every single day of camp.
  • We rented our first office space, creating a dedicated place for meetings, programs, and to house all of our educational equipment and supplies.
  • Financial assistance increased from $8,562 in 2023 to $14,595 in 2024, benefiting 114 children and youth.
  • Our dedicated volunteers contributed over 1,400 hours, valued at $46,000, supporting school field trips, caring for our Nature School property, facilitating fundraising events, and providing oversight as members of our Board of Directors.

Looking Ahead to 2025: 

We plan to continue offering the same impactful programs while expanding access to these opportunities. This includes raising awareness in underserved communities, providing transportation for some of our programs, and seeking new sources of financial support. We are also committed to improving accessibility by offering more bilingual education to ensure that all families can engage with our work.

In addition, we will:

  • Recruit new volunteers to join our Board of Directors and help facilitate our school field trips.
  • Work to repair infrastructure at Charles Metsker County Park, a vital part of our outdoor learning spaces.
  • Host our second annual Into the Woods benefit on April 12, 2025, at Maysara Winery.

All of these efforts will be supported by continued partnerships with local agencies, including the Yamhill County Parks Department, Yamhill Soil & Water Conservation District (YSWCD), local schools, state and federal organizations, and all of our community partners.

I am deeply grateful for all of you—our friends, families, and supporters. Without your dedication and generosity, none of this would be possible. The team at OEA remains committed to providing quality outdoor education experiences for our community, and we are thankful for your continued partnership on this journey.

I look forward to seeing you outside in the year ahead.

Warmly,
Theresa Crain
 Executive Director, Co-Founder, Educator
 Outdoor Education Adventures