Dirigo Union Community Connections: Tay's Summit Challenge

This month's Dirigo Union Community Connection was submitted to us by DU member Donald Thibodeau. Prior to joining the DU board, Donald served on the board of Taylor James Steeves Foundation and wanted to share information about the foundation's upcoming Summit Challenge.

Tay's Summit Challenge 2024

Friday September 13th - Sunday October 13th

The Tay's Summit Challenge is a hiking and fundraising event in support of the Taylor James Steeves Foundation, a nonprofit that works to support patients and families affected by genetic lung cancer. Our goals are to raise awareness of the Taylor James Steeves Foundation’s mission, raise money in order to be able to support more patients and families, and to get our community of supporters outside and up on top of a mountain.

We are challenging participants to both hike and fundraise during the challenge in order to earn points that will ultimately be tabulated to determine winners. Hike your favorite All Trails registered mountains, track your elevation gained, get your community behind you through donations and pledges, and finally post a summit photo with #staystrongclimbon on your social media to spread our message.

Rules

Location: Wherever you are! This event is not exclusive to Maine. All hikes do need to be an All Trails registered and tracked trail.

Dates:

Registration: August 1st - October 13th      

Fundraising: August 1st - October 13th      

Hiking Challenge: September 13th - October 13th

Points System:

1 foot in elevation gained = 1 point      

1 dollar in fundraising = 10 points

Hiking Rules

1. Must reach the summit of the mountain to receive points.

2. Trails must be verified and registered on AllTrails. AllTrails will be used to verify elevation gained.

3. When submitting hiking results include the total elevation gained per AllTrails, a picture of you at the summit and in the comment field enter the trail name and mountain you hiked. How to Submit Results.

4. All submissions need to be in before 11:59 PM EST on 10/13/2024.

5. We highly encourage all of our participants to show their love and support of the Tay Summit Challenge on social media! Use the hashtag #staystrongclimbon and tag the Taylor James Steeves Foundation so we can share and spread the word.

   
   

Awards:

Top points earner

1st Place - Weekend at  Field Guide Lodge in Stowe, VT

2nd Place - $250 REI Gift Card       

3rd Place - $100 REI Gift Card 

Sign me up!

The Taylor James Steeves Foundation (TJSF) was founded in 2018 after the loss of Taylor Steeves. Taylor was diagnosed with a genetic form of lung cancer just days before his 30th birthday and fought the disease for 1 year before losing his battle.

TJSF was formed to not only honor Taylor’s legacy, you can learn more about him here, but also to bring the same light and determination that Taylor brought to his own battle with cancer to other patients fighting this disease. Through fundraising events, like our annual Tay’s Summit Hiking Challenge, we work to provide financial to people and families going through a genetic lung cancer diagnosis. 

We partner with organizations like New England Cancer Specialists, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and the American Cancer Society to find patients in the Maine and New England area who have a lung cancer diagnosis and need support. If you or someone you know would benefit from our support, you can find more information here. If you would like to get involved with the organization, you can find more information here.

If have a community connection, be it a fundraiser, a volunteer opportunity, an event, or just something you would like to engage the DU membership with, please let us know. To share your community connection please contact Rob McLaughlin on Discord or submit an article on the website!