Give a gift that will give for years to come — transform a life

#GivingTuesday is Tomorrow!

Thank you so much for being an important part of the Sacred Rok community.

Tomorrow is #GivingTuesday, the international day of giving, and we are asking for your support to help us to expand our services by donating at https://tinyurl.com/SacredRok.  Our goal is to raise $15,000 to help us with a vehicle, a house, and a new staff mentor to assist with the youth.  We are already more than half way there!

One incarcerated young woman said, “When I go to Yosemite I feel like I can honestly be who I am.  I can escape my problems in a healthy way.  I take that first breath of fresh mountain air, and I inhale nothing but good positive energy, and when I exhale my problems are released out of my body.  I love the beauty of Yosemite.  It encourages me and gives me hope that I can make my life beautiful too.”

I know that you share our passion for the value of helping young people to experience what Ron Kauk calls the healing ceremony of nature - as he says, "Without a doubt, the healing power of nature is real."

What is the impact? One incarcerated youth, “Tony” (names of incarcerated minors are confidential), said: “While I was standing alone and enjoying the view of nature, the waterfall, and the rainbow, I began to look to my left and look to my right and notice no one was by my side. At that point I began to realize it’s all on me to make the best of what I have, where I am, and where I’m going in life.” “Tony” has since gotten out of Juvenile Hall, and has a job, a partner, and a baby. He keeps in touch with Ron by text and Facebook, and has asked Ron to visit in Yosemite so that he can again experience the reality and ceremony of nature. But he has no way to get up to Yosemite and no place to stay if he gets up there. 

Sacred Rok and Ron have been working with Merced County Juvenile Hall for 8 years, and it is so clear that the young people need a place to go when they get out — just for a day or two or a week for respite from their day to day pressures in the neighborhood. Ron keeps in touch and considers these young people as part of the Sacred Rok family and community. We are raising money to expand our services for aftercare.

And your donation is a good investment — it costs more than $90,000 a year to keep a young person in juvenile hall!  A donation has immediate and direct impact, since our first aftercare trips will be in December. 

We all know the healing power of nature, and the difference it makes for a troubled young person to learn to sit on a rock or by the river, listening to the rushing water, bearing witness to the granite cliffs, and building a relationship of trust and mutual respect with a caring adult.

Thank you so much for making a difference to Tony and others like him.

I personally support Sacred Rok with both my time and money because I see the impact it has on the youth. One foster teen told me that she had been through so many bad experiences that she always felt she was unimportant and that her life didn't matter. Then, when she lay down in the grass at the Tuolumne Meadows Campground and looked at the night sky, she realized for the first time that her life had meaning and purpose. Her epiphany brought tears to my eyes. 

We know you have your own reasons for supporting Sacred Rok, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Please share this link https://tinyurl.com/SacredRok with any of your friends, family, or colleagues who might want the opportunity to invest in Sacred Rok and help to transform lives.

Nancy Goodban, Sacred Rok Board Chair, on behalf of Ron Kauk, Executive Director

Sacred Circle

I was invited by a friend who works at the California Youth Authority in Stockton to come for a visit.  Two of our youths from the Iris Garrett Juvenile Hall in Merced were transferred there.  I was excited to see them because we had shared so many good experiences in Yosemite, and I looked forward to the opportunity to continue our friendship. This CYA prison is another level of intensity, a little more than I was used to, and it continued to expose me to some of the harsh realities that we live in. 

I met my friend Dennis at the gate, who gave a smile that immediately supported our working together over the years with the native community, where we participate in ceremonies in the Yosemite area.  As Dennis showed me around the facility, I had the realization of the scale of this issue of incarceration throughout this country.  It really challenges your willingness to look at this reality directly, without flinching.  In some ways it parallels the way in which my mind has developed as a rock climber, to be able to face these challenges.

To be in this kind of environment with Dennis felt good because we are both committed to the healing and mending as a way to participate in the world we live in. As the young men came into the building, we all greeted each other with respect.  Instantly, with the two young men who had been to Yosemite, we started sharing the particular memories of moments like swimming in the river, taking pictures of the leaves on the trees, doing trail work together, and watching the sunrise at camp. Dennis began to organize the group of young men into a circle with an opening prayer that is customary to their gathering. Pulling out a sacred eagle feather, he handed it to one of the boys who began to share his thoughts and prayers on the importance of the meeting and the preciousness of his life. When he was finished with his words, he passed the feather to the next young man and each one continued to give thanks -- how he respected this time together and the opportunity that was being created.  Each one shared in their own unique way.  Then we watched some of the climbing videos and read through the books that we created through Sacred Rok.  The fact that one of our youths was in that book inspired the idea of what’s possible when we all work together.  It was a great visit.

On my drive home, it was interesting to reflect on the reality of incarceration.  As I was flying down the Central Valley of California on Highway 99 towards Merced from Stockton, I considered that none of these buildings or businesses existed two hundred years ago, and that people had lived on this land for thousands of years without this industrialization and places for incarceration.  It continues to inspire me to consider even my own DNA lineage that leads back to my indigenous reality of being human from the earth -- I pondered the phenomenon we live in when we embrace that memory of ancestral history that would honor the intimate relationship with nature and natural laws.  My job is always to be a caretaker of nature in order to survive. I will continue to honor the nurturing environment of Yosemite that has brought me into this reality of what we are involved in with Sacred Rok.

Days later, I was with a group of youth from Juvenile Hall in Merced walking a seven-mile loop along the floor of Yosemite Valley on a nice autumn day.  In the midst of our walk, I asked one of our guys what should be the writing prompt for next week’s lunch meeting at the Hall. As he was considering the question, at that moment we could hear the birds, feel the breeze through the trees, and we were walking barefoot.  I said maybe we should write about our senses.  He looked back and me and said: “How about just common sense?”   It struck me like a lightning bolt, how profound that sounded at that moment.  And hearing that from him inspires me to think about the future of education for our youth to be able to create a foundation based on common sense and our relationship with the earth.  At Sacred Rok, we talk about education nature’s way, which has so much to do with common sense.  As Noam Chomsky asked: education for whom and for what?  I continue to marvel at the brilliance of the comment, and how much sense that makes.  Does that make sense?

- Ron Kauk, Executive Director

Bridging the World With the Merced Youth Council

For us at Sacred Rok it is always a great experience to have the Merced Youth Council come up as we join together for our walks and talks within Yosemite.

Our recent camping trip with the Merced Youth Council in Tuolumne Meadows reminded us of the spirit and commitment we have to connect with the wisdom of nature as the teacher.

We continue to facilitate the ceremony of nature which inspires ourselves along with our youth to go deeper into the reality of our responsibility to nature as our life source and how that applies to everything we do in our lives.

To have been together with the Merced Youth Council yet once again was the opportunity to work together in bridging these two environments of Merced and Yosemite, the urban with the natural.    

The Merced Youth Council is getting involved in social issues that promote the health and wellness of their community. 

We are honored to continue this relationship with the Merced Youth Council and look forward to expanding these stories into their community, which will help the vision for the future of these young people to be the leaders that they already are becoming.

Ron Kauk, Executive Director

Traditional Foods: Old Ways to Wellness

When we first started in late July of 2009 I initially signed on as Camp Cook as I had always had an appreciation for good food and thought it would be a fun endeavor. Little did I know that several years later, inspired by the work we were doing in the Sacred Rok kitchen, I would embark on a journey into nutrition. 

In 2014 I started a graduate degree program in Traditional Nutrition and after two years of study and one thesis later I was holding my degree with an emphasis on Type II Diabetes Prevention in Native Populations through Whole and Traditional Foods. 

Some of you may be wondering what Traditional Foods are. Well, simply put they are deeply nourishing foods, which are unprocessed, naturally raised, largely raw, unrefined and prepared in their traditional and appropriate ways. These foods represent the natural diet of humankind and nourished the natural growth and evolution of the human species for thousands of years prior to the industrialization of food. They are foods in their original form, are whole and nutrient-dense and are really quite simple like meat and poultry, eggs, whole grains, fish, beans and legumes, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds, dairy, fats.

As Sacred Rok delves deeper into the understanding of what it means to be nurtured by nature we look to our food more and more. Motivated to put my studies into practical use I've been delving into the wild edibles of the Sierra Nevada and have created a few recipes based on the local flora. One delicious ingredient that the Sacred Rok youth love to collect is Wild Onion. This Allium literally is food medicine as it is high in anti-cancer sulfur compounds; high in quercetin, a flavonoid beneficial in upper respiratory health; high in Vitamin A & C; rich in potassium, calcium, manganese, and selenium; can be used for bacterial diseases or as a preventative method when you first feel a cold coming on; and is even good for overall cholesterol. 

 The leaves can be eaten as a snack by rolling them into balls and sprinkling with salt but a new favorite of mine is a Wild Onoin Kimchi. Kimchi, for those who may not know, is a traditional fermented Korean dish made from vegetables like cabbage, green onions, carrots, radish, garlic, ginger and spices. It is made by a traditional fermentation process involving a salt brine and takes place inside tightly sealed glass jars or ceramic pots. The fermentation process takes anywhere from several days to several months. During this time the flavors, textures and health benefits of kimchi dramatically change and improve; like the production of beneficial lactobacilli bacteria which is really good for the health of our gut and as a result the health of our immune system. Additionally, the lactic acid bacteria formed during the fermentation of kimchi also helps your body break down toxins like pesticides. 

But, the health benefits of Kimchi don't stop there.  Beyond the pro-bacteria properties, Kimchi also has anticancer properties; anti-constipation properties; brain health promotion; immune health promotion; colorectal health promotion; antioxidative and anti-aging properties; anti-obesity effects; skin health promotion and aids in the treatment of leaky gut. 

Our modern diets are largely processed, consist of highly refined ingredients and man-made chemicals and are virtually void of any real nutritional value. As more and more youth are diagnosed with learning and behavioral disorders it is becoming increasingly important to look to their diets for the answers. Sensitivities to additives and processed sugars, allergies to processed dairy, wheat and gluten have all been found to be huge contributors to behavioral problems and illness. 

Our ancestors knew the secrets to wellness and it was through sustaining oneself on the natural foods found in nature. While we all may not be able to go into the mountains and woods for our food supply we can make an effort to plant gardens, join a CSA, and stick to the parameters of the grocery stores opting for organics and local produce as much as we can. In making an effort to eat whole foods we are returning to health and providing a brighter future for the youth of this earth. 

Happy Eating from your Sacred Rok COO and Nutritionist, 

Katie Lambert