Et cetera : AmeriCorps NCCC Team Serves at Voyageur Outward Bound

Maple 6 in Ely, Minnesota at Voyageur Outward Bound.

by Heather Whitney and Tarsis Gotay

The AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) team of Maple 6 is serving in Ely, Minnesota with Voyageur Outward Bound School, a non-profit that provides outdoor education and wilderness expeditions.  

The team is very excited to contribute to the main project, which is completing work on a cabin that is being constructed for multi-season lodging. The team is also assisting with other necessary tasks around the Voyageur Outward Bound School campus, such as wood splitting and caring for the sixty-six sled dogs on campus. Caring for the sled dogs is one of the teams’ favorite tasks!

The team has accomplished putting insulation and drywall into the main cabin within a two week period and has processed 20 truckloads of wood to be used by the campus for the remainder of the year! 

Thanks to the support and generosity of the staff at Voyageur Outward Bound, the team was able to get a taste of what a winter expedition would be like for students. Led by knowledgeable and passionate instructors, the team went winter camping for a weekend on Lake Kawishiwi near the border of the Boundary Waters.

The team’s contribution will free up fiscal resources in order to assist students of all ages and walks of life to be able to experience the great outdoors. The team is looking forward to new experiences to come.