Helping to change lives, one opportunity at a time. 

What is UPportunity?

Kevin McDonald founded UPportunity in 2015 to expand the world and open the minds of our at risk youth through travel and adventure. For the past 21 years as a certified ski instructor,  McDonald has taught thousands of kids skiing in Aspen, CO. His teaching method of reducing fear to increase their confidence has garnered him many ski industry accolades and a loyal following of ski clients.Year after year, these clients continue returning to learn from Kevin McDonald. He realized that he was teaching them more than being confident in skiing. He was teaching them to be more confident in life. UPportunity was created to give our at risk youth the opportunity they would never of been able to afford or dream of otherwise. We accomplish our goals for the youth by getting them excited to participate in our travels and adventures, which works as tools to open their minds and souls towards learning and experiencing new things.

How are our youth selected?

UPportunity partners with local mentorships across the country. These local mentorships do the day to day mentoring of their youth and UPportunity provides an incentive for the youth to do well in their local programs. The youth that exemplify exceptional behavior and a willingness to learn are selected to participate in UPportunity’s travels and adventures. We generally only take 4 youth on each adventure. During their travels, UPportunity requires the selected youth to document their adventure and share their presentation with the other youth and other interested audiences. This challenge to the youth also builds important life skills of organization, communication, and confidence.

FOLLOW OUR ADVENTURES

Self-Reflection + Actualization

UPportunity strongly encourages the youth that partake in these adventures to analyze their experiences through self-reflection. Our mentors work alongside each of them, with challenges to express their thoughts and feelings such as:

1. What did you learn about yourself?

2. How did the adventure help you grow?

3. What fears did you have to overcome?

With positivity and encouragement from our mentors, they learn to organize their thoughts and develop the skills to express those thoughts verbally and in written form. This builds character and confidence, which equates to success in school, better relationships, and an optimistic outlook towards a more balanced and enriching life.

The teens are taught the fundamentals of photography, photojournalism, and how to write and document their adventures by professional destination wedding photographer, Ron Delhaye, who is also a native of Northwest Indiana. Through UPportunity's various fundraising efforts and generous donators, UPportunity is able to provide Canon Rebel dSLR's so that the boys can learn a hands-on approach to photography, just as they will learn a hands-on approach to new adventures in life. 

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS

  Thank you for supporting UPportunity and our goal. Our mission is only accomplished when we bring change to our communities through bringing opportunities to our youth. Will you share our vision? 100% of every donation creates and funds a new opportunity for our youth. We are grateful for your support.

TWENTY IS PLENTY! Just $20 is plenty to change a kid's life. UPportunity was founded to expand the world and open the minds of our at risk and economically challenged youth through travel and adventure. By pledging to donate $20 a month for one year, you can check the continued progress of the youth, through our monthly newsletters. This will serve as a check and balance for our program, where you have the control to end your support at anytime.

To learn more about the AAAYC, visit their website by clicking here.

To follow photographer Ron Delhaye and view his work, click here.

UPlifting Highlight Real

PHOTO DOCUMENTATION AND PHOTO JOURNALISM

A different group of 4 youths will be selected from the pool of 50 for various adventures. These 4 earn their ability to go through academic achievements, attendance, and attitude. To keep the others involved, the 4 youths will be taught hands-on by Chicago pro photographer Ron Delhaye how to document and journal their travels and adventures through photojournalism. UPportunity mentors will help them organize and present a 10 minute presentation to share with the remaining youth. We will publish and share the presentations and adventures here on our website, and on various social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. Our goal is to foster organization and speaking skills, and build confidence through teaching and exploring photography and photojournalism.

All photography provided by Ron Delhaye + Kevin McDonald | Website designed by Kevin McDonald, Ron Delhaye + Chris Casson