Journeys of Wonder at the Adventure Center

In October 2010, the Adventure Center: Journeys of Wonder, Inc. (ACJOW, Inc.), located in Riverdale, New York, will celebrate two years of operation as a non-profit educational enrichment organization for children and their families. What makes this so exciting for me personally is that this organization is headed by a woman named Liz who just happens to be married to my brother Ray. Both of them have made the Adventure Center their passion--Liz is the president and executive director of the school and Ray is the program director. The organization offers programs to suit many different tastes--from the Adventures in Nature program that takes children (and interested parents) on exploratory nature tours of the Hudson Valley, to the Joy of Writing program that offers children the chance to learn how to write a play and to perform it if they so desire. The Adventure Center receives programmatic support from the Materials for the Arts, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and The New York City Department of Sanitation, among others.

The road to the realization of the Adventure Center has surely been a journey of wonder, learning and passion for Liz and Ray, but it has not been and is not an easy road. It is a vision that became a reality, but like any other non-profit organization, it relies on donations and grants to keep it afloat. I want it to succeed for them so much, and I wish I was independently wealthy or wealthy enough to invest in the Center without reservation. But I am not. These days, I often think that if I could choose my work life over again, I might think money and personal wealth first when it came to working and saving, and then switch gears in mid-life and use some of that wealth to benefit society. But knowing me, I would probably choose the same way as I did when I was younger if I had another chance. I did choose a career that I knew would allow me to support myself, but not a career that paid big money, like investment banking or law. We were not raised to go after big money in our family, and that brings up other issues. Why wasn’t this emphasized more in our youth? Should it have been emphasized more? Because having money in and of itself is not a bad thing. You can do a lot of good things for the world around you when you have enough money, but not all wealthy people do this. I know a lot of people who don’t have money or don’t have enough money to realize even their small dreams. I know people who have been out of work for several years after having lost their jobs in middle age. It’s a tough world these days and that is what has made me question whether it may be a good thing to emphasize the value of earning a very good living to teenagers on the verge of making important life choices. One should at least be able to support oneself without much worry. But these days it is tough for some people I know to get a job at all, so perhaps the discussion of choosing a lucrative job is a moot point.

My brother is involved in leading the Adventures in Nature program. I think this suits him well since he was an avid fisherman, hiker, and outdoorsman when he was younger. He knew a lot about the different fishing flies necessary to catch different kinds of fish, and he had friends who also enjoyed fishing. I think it was my mother who got him started--she would take him to the Tarrytown lakes as a child to go fishing. He worked in the corporate world for many years before this present endeavor became his daily life, and I venture to say that he does not miss it. His wife has always had a passion for working with and helping children and teenagers in difficult life situations, so it does not surprise me at all that she wanted to start such a center. I am inspired by their choices and the difficulties they face and get through, and I hope that one day in the near future, their journey will lead them to a very good place. If you are interested in supporting their work, please visit their website http://www.adventurecenterjourneysofwonder.org/index.html for more information.