My Nonprofit Reviews

As a volunteer with Healing Waters Wilderness Adventures I watch the impact that it has on its communities with such admiration. I expected that it may take a while for me to see real impact through my volunteer hours, but the opposite happened. On my very first "client trip" where we took clients out on their white water rafting adventure (a first for many of our clients) and then camping afterwards, I had this amazing experience with a client. It was after dinner and I was helping to cleanup in the kitchen with other volunteers (who had just cooked an extraordinary meal for our clients after their rafting trip) and one of the clients approached me to tell me how amazing her day was (we'll call her "Mary" to protect her privacy). Mary was detailing to me how she had been addicted to drugs and alcohol off and on her entire adult life. It had impacted all of her relationships including the one with her son. She had been sober for 3 months (the longest in her life) and was feeling really positive about her future. Coming out on a Healing Waters Wilderness Adventure and experiencing the amazing healing power that nature offers was life changing for her and made her feel stronger about herself. She fought back tears as she described her ups and downs, and I asked if I could hug her. She consented and we both stood there hugging and crying while she shared how she was feeling. From Day One I knew that what we do makes a difference, and that Healing Waters Wilderness Adventures matters a great deal to the Bay Area communities that it serves. I'm extremely proud to volunteer with HWWA and know that I make a difference every time I show up.