Autumn 2023

Autumn in Yosemite is always a time to reflect. Literally and figuratively speaking. Our lives have been shaped by living in such beauty and the profound lessons regarding nature and the cycles of life.

 Based on that reality, education natures’ way has been our guide. Our vision from the start has been to contribute something positive to our society and represent how sacred the natural world is and that we are nature – there is no separation.

This gives us the opportunity to connect with the mother earth. What we understand is when we were and are babies we need our mother for nurturing, love and connection. This is the start to building a foundation for life.

Sacred Rok facilitates this kind of connection when we simply enjoy being in nature which can promote a nurturing, love, and connection for us to understand that everything we have comes from the mother earth.

 Sacred Rok is committed to helping our youth and ourselves promote mental, physical and spiritual health that can continue to inspire the growth of our creative and authentic selves, building a solid foundation.

 Even though we are in our 15th year the motivation we feel while being out in nature with our youth continues to grow.  This shows how important it is for us to have a solid foundation with the mother earth - to help raise our awareness to being humble human beings and the responsibility to respect all life.

 We sincerely thank you for all your support as we move together into this next year with an even clearer vision of how important it is to bring back the balance with ourselves and the mother earth.

 It’s truly an honor to be a part of something that seems so absolutely important for our future generations.  

With Respect,

Ron Kauk, Executive Director

& Katie Lambert, Chief Operating Officer

#GivingTuesday is November 28th and Sacred Rok is Fundraising to Help Keep Our Youth on the Path to Education Nature's Way

Like thousands of nonprofits, we use #GivingTuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, as our biggest fundraiser - a counterbalance to the intense focus on consumerism seen in Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Our #GivingTuesday goal is to support our expanded capacity and continue program development with Juvenile Halls in three counties, and the multiple youth-serving agencies and school groups we work with. In 2018 we procured a central base located just outside Yosemite Valley to host trips to Yosemite and we now have a base in Bishop, Ca for our expanded trips for the youth within the Owens Valley and Eastern Sierra.

We camp, hike, climb, back pack, spend time by lakes and rivers, participate in stewardship work with the Yosemite Park Service & the Bishop Paiute tribe, community art projects with C5 Studio in Bishop, CA and relate through conversations, journaling, reflections and storytelling about how to connect to the natural world around us and explore its depths.

The Sacred Rok model is all about building relationships. We are looking to continue developing our programs and to further solidify our current contracts and connections. Our programs are free to the youth participants and the funding we seek would go directly to cover costs of running trips: insurance, transportation, food, park fees, gear and equipment.

We work with youth and other youth-serving agencies throughout central and northern California - but we are unique because of our close and longterm work with incarcerated youth. We have partnered with Juvenile Hall in Merced County for over a decade, with Juvenile Hall in San Benito County for eight years and have been with Inyo County Juvenile Probation for going on two years. Imagine helping these young people to feel safe and find their voice, knowing that they are loved and trusted.

The outdoor experiences we facilitate have such a longstanding and deep impact on the youth. "Whenever I spend time with Sacred Rock, I feel as if I don't have anything to worry about. I always experience something new and this time I saw two shooting stars for the first time, I love every moment I spend there." - Sacred Rok Youth

It costs more than $90,000 a year to keep a youth locked up.

Here is what one Juvenile Hall youth says about Sacred Rok: “I have never been on a hike before that was my first time experiencing this type of journey. I thought it was pretty cool. I felt free! I was able to see a lot of different things out there. We saw a baby fox wondering around the park, a pair of squirrels asking for food. Everything was so green and we were surrounded by giant rocks and we even saw a beautiful waterfall. We went through caves and explored all over the park. We basically hiked all day and just kept going forward, it was a wonderful day. “ - Probation Youth

With your help, together we can further our commitment to supporting these youth in finding their own unique voices.

Please consider donating this holiday season.

With Respect,

Sacred Rok

Current Annual Report

Please click the image to view the report

Thank You for Your Support in Keeping Our Young People on the Trail to Higher Education, Nature’s Way.

We are honored to share our current 2022 Fiscal Year Annual Report with you. Our appreciation for your support is beyond words as we enter our 15th year of bringing youth into nature to inspire their authentic selves.

Sacred Rok has always been committed to our collective future through supporting our youth to build a foundation with nature. We recognize having this foundation promotes their mental, physical, and spiritual health. In these challenging times with so many distractions like social media and lack of good nutrition our youth are facing a struggle for identity.

The results we have seen over the last 14 years have given us the inspiration and motivation to stay committed to facilitating the ceremony of nature with our youth that helps us all be respectful, responsible, human beings together.

The opportunity to rewrite the educational system based on natural laws and what it means to be human is one of the greatest goals for Sacred Rok. The challenges we have faced as Yosemite climbers have prepared us for this - to believe anything is possible through dedication, discipline, and an open mind.

Your support has made a difference in the lives of many young people as we continue to work together to achieve our shared goals of helping youth learn to respect nature and through that respect themselves.

On behalf of Sacred Rok and our youth, we thank you.

Sincerely,

Ron Kauk - Executive Director

Katie Lambert - Chief Operating Officer

Sacred Rok Peace Poster

It is the vision of Sacred Rok to bring life into balance through Education Nature’s Way, and what better place than Yosemite to promote this. Sacred Rok is offering our new Peace Poster that was inspired by our Executive Director, Ron Kauk, while on the upper Yosemite Falls trail. This signed poster is for Sacred Rok fundraising, but more importantly to raise the consciousness of the beauty of Yosemite as a World Heritage site that connects all life.

Your $50 donation continues to keep our youth on the trail to higher education.

You may also mail check or money order to:

Sacred Rok - PO Box 148 - Yosemite, CA 96389