We are honored to share our 2025 Fiscal Year Annual Report with you.

As we enter our 18th year of bringing young people into nature, we are deeply grateful for your continued support. Because of your generosity, we have been able to create life-changing experiences that inspire youth to discover their authentic selves while building meaningful connections with the natural world.

Since our founding, Sacred Rok has remained committed to investing in our collective future by helping young people build strong foundations through nature. We believe that time outdoors nurtures mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being while fostering resilience, confidence, compassion, and a sense of purpose.

Today, that mission feels more important than ever. In a world increasingly shaped by social media, artificial intelligence, constant distraction, and fewer opportunities for genuine human connection, many young people are struggling with identity, belonging, and purpose. Nature offers a powerful antidote—creating space for reflection, challenge, healing, and authentic connection with both ourselves and one another.

For the past 17 years, we have remained inspired and committed in our mission to guide youth through the transformative power of nature. These experiences cultivate responsibility, respect, compassion, and a deeper understanding of both the natural world and our place within it.

One of Sacred Rok's greatest aspirations is to help reimagine education by embracing the lessons found in nature and the timeless principles of what it means to be human. As Yosemite climbers, we have learned that extraordinary goals are achieved through perseverance, discipline, humility, and the belief that what seems impossible today can become possible tomorrow. Those same lessons continue to guide our work every day.

Because of your support, countless young people have experienced the healing, inspiration, and sense of possibility that nature provides. Together, we are helping the next generation develop a lifelong respect for the natural world—and through that respect, a deeper appreciation for themselves, their communities, and one another.

On behalf of everyone at Sacred Rok and the youth we serve, thank you for believing in our mission and investing in the lives of young people. We hope you enjoy reflecting on another year of connection, growth, and possibility.

Support Youth in Nature and Transform Lives, One Person at a Time

Your Donation Helps Break the Barriers to the Outdoors

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

Our #GivingTuesday goal is to support our nature-based, youth mentoring programs in Yosemite and the Eastern Sierra with Atwater High School, Bishop Middle School Continuation Day class, Big Pine 6th grade class, Keith Bright Juvenile High, Long Beach High School, CASA from San Francisco and Merced.

We build and maintain nature connections with our youth through various activities like: hiking, climbing, camping, back packing, lake swimming and paddle boarding, stewardship work with the Yosemite National Park Service and gardening work with the Bishop Paiute Tribe. Additionally, through art and culturally relevant activities with C5 Studio in Bishop and Native Elders in the community we are bringing our youth together 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 meaningful and longterm relationships. We are seeking funding to support our ongoing relationships and outings with our youth. Our programs are free to all youth participants and the funding we seek would go directly to cover costs of running trips: volunteer stipends, insurance, transportation, food, park fees, gear/equipment, etc.

The outdoor experiences we facilitate have such a longstanding and deep impact on the youth. In their own words they have shared their feelings from some of our experiences:

"I never imagined it to be such an amazing experience but they proved me wrong."

"I loved the entire experience. We went to some very cool spots & hiked the waterfall when we first got into the park. I learned so much about nature!"

" My favorite part of the experience was swimming, as well as seeing a different side to nature that I don’t feel can be seen elsewhere.”

With your help, together we can further our commitment to supporting these youth build their nature connections and in finding their own unique voices. Please consider donating this holiday season.

With Respect,

Ron Kauk, Executive Director

Katie Lambert, Chief Operating Officer

The Future Is Now

We get asked a lot about results and we’ve always felt every experience has been worthy and life changing in some way, shape or form. We recently experienced something that continues to confirm this even more.

Shiwani first came when she was 13 years old from Merced on day trips with Sacred Rok, while in high school she joined the Merced Youth Council and continued to come on day trips and camping trips, she then went onto San Diego to college and would return to Sacred Rok during school breaks . She recently graduated college and returned to Yosemite with a group of her newfound college friends to join Sacred Rok on a weekend trip so they could have the experience, too.

This was a big honor for us to facilitate the ceremony of nature for these college graduates who are now in a diversified realm to contribute to society. In our days together we talked about the values of nature and the importance of continuing to have an open mind and create our own vision of how we would like to see the world - based on equality, respect and responsibility.

It’s a profound reality when they say the youth is our future.

We also held another day trip recently with our Sky Pilot Program which has been going on over the last three summers. Some of the participants have been involved with us since before the Sky Pilot Program, coming from the Big Pine middle school, with the majority of the youth in this group having attended at least 25 trips with Sacred Rok.

As the adults, we are having an incredible experience as we observe our youth - some who were at first mildly terrified to walk across a creek that was at most a foot deep to our recent trip to Tuolumne hiking up the front-side of Lembert Dome - their progress in very inspiring.

This proved once again that with adult supervision that provides care, patience and respect we can achieve something that didn’t seem possible.

As we’ve said before, us human beings are no different than nature - we need nurturing through water, sunlight, and rich soil to grow into a healthy contribution for the world.

Education Nature’s Way is absolutely one of the most important things for understanding what it means to be human in relationship to our mental, physical and spiritual health.

Sacred Rok, always respecting the intelligence of nature and understanding the need for balance.

-Ron Kauk

"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves" - Chief Seattle

Building Our Story Through Relationships

We’re honored to have met the artist, Arsenio Baca, who has shown the intuitive connection with what we’ve been imagining for a while for two new t-shirts and a hat. This came about in a serendipitous timing and has made it even that much more natural to work together

It was always our intention to bring more light to the word Sacred. So, we are excited to share this with you in a little exchange for donations that keep our kids on the trail and our community building.

FRONT of Respect Nature Tee

BACK of Respect Nature Tee

Single T-shirt $100 donation

Water Bottle - $100 donation

Hat - $50 donation