Inspiring Connections Outdoors (ICO) is a program of the Sierra Club Foundation, and we do have an active chapter in the greater Las Vegas area. The mission of ICO is to provide opportunities for people (especially children and young adults) with limited access to the outdoors to safely explore, enjoy and protect the natural world. We partner with local schools, community centers and other organizations to accomplish this goal through supervised and fun outdoor outings.
The Las Vegas ICO has unfortunately not been able to have any in-person outings since March due to pandemic restrictions. We will follow the national Sierra Club guidelines for ICO outings, and it is increasingly looking like our next outings may well not take place until summer of 2021. Our national organization has said that the roll out of outings will probably be regional, and that one guideline they will look at is whether schools are open in a given area. (And of course, Clark County schools remain closed). In addition, many of our local ICO outings leaders have shared that they will be reluctant to lead outings until there is a vaccine widely available. In normal times, ICO leads several outings each month. We do provide transportation, meals, and equipment for these outings, and raise all the necessary funds to do so. Our ICO outings leaders go through a rigorous training and certification process, and receive First Aid/CPR training courtesy of the Sierra Club. We also require yearly training in child abuse recognition and prevention. We raise funds for all of these expenses through an annual fundraising event and campaign. One adjustment we have made this year is to cancel our usual fundraising activities for the year, as we simply have not spent enough to warrant replenishing the ICO coffers. We thank those who have donated to the program in the past, and encourage those who make year-end gifts to consider giving to the Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter instead.
Despite this difficult year, Las Vegas ICO is resilient, and we persist. The Las Vegas ICO is working on providing “virtual outings” to some of our partner organizations. These can be presented via video on zoom or similar web platforms. We have already shared the first of these outings, which was presented by our long-time outings leader Tony Fountain. Tony led a virtual tour of the Galapagos Islands for a group of teenagers and young adults who are clients of Chicanos Por La Causa (an organization that promotes economic opportunity in Las Vegas). He used slides and video that he had taken during a trip to the area several years ago. There was a great discussion during the presentation regarding the ecology of the Galapagos and how it is affected by climate change. Although this presentation was geared to older youth, Tony has also developed a virtual version that is appropriate for some of the younger children we serve.
Tony is now working with several of our Las Vegas ICO volunteers to develop a second virtual outing that can be shared with our partner organizations. This will be a “virtual hike” of Ash Canyon in Red Rock Canyon. The group has hiked the trail (socially distanced of course!) and is video taping sections of the hike to share in the presentation. This is one of the most popular hikes that Las Vegas ICO leads with the children we serve; we hope they will enjoy the virtual version! We look forward to sharing it soon, and should post a link to it on our website and Facebook page when it is available.
We are continuing to meet with our members so that we can maintain our connections and share knowledge and be ready for outings when they do resume. We are meeting via zoom almost monthly, although we will not have a meeting in December.
Our next meeting will be Wednesday, January 13 th at 5:30 pm Pacific Time. If you are interested in learning more about our plans for the upcoming year, please feel free to attend. Our Las Vegas ICO meetings are open to all. If you would like to join us please email Las Vegas ICO Chair Janet Carter at jkumar167@aol.com and you will receive the zoom link to the meeting the week before. We appreciate all of your support!