Doing The Hard Things – January 2026
What’s inside: New Year. Same Mission.RESEARCH: Playing in dirt transforms children’s healthVolunteering in 2026: Register NOWLeading Adventure Summit: April 25 & 26Adventure Team Youth ProgrammingYouth & Family InfoAdventure Team Registration: Get Ready!New on MADE U.P.Events with 906AT We’re dedicating the entire newsletter to the youth program and kicking off volunteer recruitment. The LMS (Learning Management System) has been updated. Quizzes have been streamlined and shortened. Video was added to diversify the training experience, and you can complete your training on a mobile friendly app. Progress. Ya know… I remember a time when the LMS was a three-ring binder. We had a handful of coaches and one Adventure Team. The training was nothing more than stuff I collected to hold myself accountable… A handful of ethics, core values, and rules of engagement. We focused a lot on HOW we would do things because how you do things creates your culture. IMO nothing is more important than an organization’s culture. When you have a group of people who believe in each other, trust one another, and like each other… You can do and overcome anything. Nothing can stop you. Failure is not an option. I’m a big believer that we’ve been successful because of the kinda people that get on our bus. Before I let you go, there’s one thing I would like to add. It’s something that keeps me up at night. I’ll call it the “Tyranny of Safety.” Our society has become obsessed with scaring the sh!t out of us so they can swoop in and be the safety police. It’s infecting our minds. It’s impacting our kids. We are losing touch with the world around us because we’re afraid of it, and that brings me to this. Our organization will continue to focus on personal accountability, resilience, courage, adaptability, and helping people become more independent. We will continue to provide difficult experiences to test you, and bring you together. We will continue to serve you before ourself, and lead by example. The world is a dangerous place. No one is going to change that. What we (you) can change is our level of readiness and training. So on that note, it’s 2026… let’s get started. RESEARCH: Playing in dirt transforms children’s health A few weeks ago Todd forwarded me and Marc a link to an article in The Guardian, “read this when you have a quiet moment.” I wasn’t surprised to see the article had to do with kids and the impact of play outdoors. I also wasn’t all that surprised to read about the positive impact on kids who were not just playing outside, but getting their hands into the dirt. I grew up in a small town outside of Grand Rapids. A highlight of my childhood was spending nearly all of my days playing outside. It wasn’t a question of whether we were going to go outside every day – we woke up, had breakfast and were sent out the door, often only returning for snacks, lunch and the occasional bathroom break. We had an endless number of made up games, tree forts, and shenanigans that were top priority. We took a bath nearly every night because we were typically filthy when we came in. Of course, I didn’t realize, and I’m not sure my parents did either the added benefits of playing in the dirt. It’s just what we did. We’re beginning to now understand those benefits on a deeper level – because of the negative trends that began popping up when kids weren’t spending their days in the outdoors. Medical experts are asking and beginning to learn the answer to – why are heath trends in today’s kids on a decline? Our world is different today than it was when I was a kid. Today’s world moves faster, it’s louder, distractions are everywhere. Play, like what’s discussed in the article, often has to be intentional – but that doesn’t make it any less impactful. I don’t think it’s ever been more important to make sure we’re creating opportunities for kids to adventure, play in the mud, and get dirty – it opens up a whole new realm of imagination and discovery – and how great that at the same time, as the research in this article suggests, aids in healthy growth and development. This article also presses the importance of protecting green spaces, parks, trails and places for kids and families to spend time outside together. We need to work together as a community to ensure there isn’t a barrier for this type of play – that our kids have the spaces and places to get dirty. I loved reading the below article and learning about what they’re doing in Finland – I only wish there was more of that happening on a larger scale. But, we can all do our part – and it’s rewarding to know we’re all a part of a community, the 906AT community, that’s creating opportunities and spaces to do just that!By Elizabeth Peterson READ THE ARTICLE VOLUNTEER IN 2026: SIGN UP IS OPEN! The number of kids we’re able to sign up for Adventure Team programming is directly tied to the number of volunteers in each community. For every volunteer, we’re able to open up three youth spots.Volunteers do NOT need to be expert bikers. We provide the training to be an effective volunteer. Volunteers DO need to Lead by Example and commit. Commit to the program. Commit to the 906AT ethos and mission. Commit to putting Service Before Self. And commit to showing up and being present. This program doesn’t just positively impact the kids participating – it changes the adults – for the better. Volunteers must pass a background check and successfully complete the 906AT online training module. You’ll also have the opportunity to attend the Leading Adventure Summit in Marquette in April to further your training and development. 906AT needs active, engaged and dedicated volunteers who believe in building up today’s kids – not by