12/03/2025
For this Giving Season 🤍
I here humbly ask for your support now. This is my very first ask for community support in the 25 years of educational leadership and mentoring work. I am here asking on behalf of the teens who are struggling alone, in much need of mentorship and support for mental wellness and physical well being. Also, asking on behalf of those of us who needed support and guidance in our teens and now seeking mentorship in this healing journey.
Your generosity helps keep our doors open, our scholarships flowing, and the passages available to all who seek them.
Every dollar is a support for the youth to find purpose and their gifts being acknowledged in this world. Thank you so much for your time and energy in reading this sharing.
Donate Now. All Donations are Tax-Deductible.
https://givebutter.com/ritesofpassage
𝐑𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞!
𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲
In every traditional culture across the world, young people once crossed a sacred threshold…a moment that affirmed their gifts, their belonging, and their place in the village. This moment carried them from childhood into young adulthood with guidance, ceremony, and community support.
Our culture rarely offers this anymore.
Instead, many teens walk through their hardest years alone, without guidance and mentorship.
They feel the weight of expectations, the pressure of screens, the ache of isolation, and the confusion of trying to understand themselves without elders to guide them. Many try to carry emotional storms with no village to help hold it.
And yet… beneath every overwhelmed or withdrawn young person, something ancient still calls for…a quiet inner voice longing for meaning, a spark yearning to awaken, a desire for purpose, belonging, and confidence, a longing to be seen and understood.
𝐀 𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠.
🌿 Imagine a young person stepping away from the noise and pressure of modern life…into the stillness of the forest, the quiet breath of the desert, or the deep wisdom of the mountains.
🏔️ Imagine them welcomed by mentors who offer warmth, grounded presence, and full attention, adults who believe they carry gifts worthy of recognition.
🔥Imagine your teen, or a teen in your community, sitting around a fire with others their age, hearing stories of courage, grief, resilience, and possibility.
𝐀 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬.
Wilderness Rites of passage strengthen mental and emotional wellness in powerful ways!
- Emotional resilience: They learn skills for navigating fear, change, and big feelings.
- Inner confidence: They discover they can meet challenges with courage.
- Reduced anxiety: Time on the land regulates their nervous systems through nature’s medicine.
- Identity clarity: They speak aloud their gifts and visions in a supportive circle.
- Community belonging: They feel embraced by a village that sees them.
- Purpose & direction: They step into life with intention, insight, and responsibility.
When a young person feels their worth reflected by mentors, peers, and nature itself, their entire emotional landscape begins to shift. Courage rises, self-love softens their edges, purpose lights their path.
At the heart of every wilderness initiation is a single sacred moment, a moment when a young person stands alone on the land, sensing the presence of something larger than themselves, the wind, the trees, the stars, their ancestors, all whispering:
“You are ready.”
“You belong here.”
“Your gifts carry value in this world.”
Every young adult deserves this moment. Every young adult deserves to feel their life shift from confusion to clarity, from overwhelm to grounded purpose.
🌱 This fund will open the doorway for young people ages 12–25 to receive full wilderness rite of passage programs; mentorship circles before and after the journey; emotional support, council skills, and leadership training; wilderness surthrival and survival skills, tracking, bushcraft, and ancestral practices; integration guidance to help them return home with clarity; ceremony, fire circles, singing, movement, and community witness!
Many families in our community deeply value this work yet face real financial barriers.
Your generosity allows youth from a wide range of backgrounds to cross this threshold and carry the torch forward as the next generation of leaders, healers, creators, and earth-connected adults.
Your generosity becomes a guiding light passed from youth to youth.
Your Gift Becomes a Turning Point in a Young Person’s Life.
When you give, you create a moment of awakening, a spark of belonging, a sense of purpose that guides them for years, a healthier mind and a stronger emotional foundation, a young adult who feels embraced by a village, a leader ready to contribute to the world!
💛 𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲.
𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.
Your contribution plants a seed in the life of a young soul. Your offering strengthens their emotional well-being. Your generosity helps them step forward with courage, clarity, and purpose.
𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝.
𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞.
👉 Donate Now. All Donations are Tax-Deductible.
https://givebutter.com/ritesofpassage
With Love & Deepest Gratitude,
Amy Ma, M.Ed.
Executive Director, MonteReggio Internationale Corp.
a 501c3 educational non-profit organization
Educational Leadership Guide
Founder, SOL Gratitude Village
a multi-generational living & learning village
Naturalist, Wilderness Immersion & Rites of Passage
Wilderness Montessori Guide ages 3-18
Montessori Farm Forest School
Mount Shasta Nature School
WALK WITH THE WILD ONES
Ancestral & Wilderness Skills Gatherings
WAILS & WHISPERS BETWEEN THE WORLDS
Grief Tending Facilitator
GriefTendingRituals.com
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