CompletedWe Mean Business - Wilderness Inquiry celebrates its new home in Bloomington

We Mean Business - Wilderness Inquiry celebrates its new home in Bloomington

Date: Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 7:36 PMActual: Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 7:36 PM

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Published Wednesday, May 7, 2025

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[0:17] - 3, 2, 1. [0:20] Cut. [0:21] (Crowd cheering) [0:22] Wilderness Inquiry is a 47-year-old nonprofit organization, [0:25] and our mission is to connect people of all ages, [0:28] backgrounds, abilities, and identities to the health [0:31] and wellness benefits of the outdoors. [0:33] Since 1978, when we were first founded, started working [0:36] with people experiencing disability. [0:38] Over time, about the last 20 years [0:40] or so, we've also worked with America's youth who have, [0:43] for one reason or another, experienced barriers [0:45] to getting outdoors and [0:47] and being connected to the natural world. [0:49] - We offer multiple types of trips. [0:50] We offer extended trips where typically three [0:53] or five day overnight trips can even go up longer, [0:56] up to 14 days. [0:57] We also have our day and youth trips, [0:58] which typically are one day trips out on local waterways [1:02] or at local schools. [1:03] So, when participants book through us, [1:05] we don't wanna add extra financial burden on them. [1:07] So we provide everything from sleeping bags, sleeping pads, [1:10] to boots, to coats, to gloves, [1:12] anything anyone could possibly need to explore the outdoors. [1:15] We are very welcoming. [1:16] We have staff from all different backgrounds and abilities [1:19] and identities who are there [1:21] to support you throughout the entire duration of your trip, [1:23] even to get you out on your first hiking trip all the way up [1:26] to going on a five day boundary water expedition trip. [1:30] - I didn't know how to take my daughter [1:33] with a disability into the wilderness. [1:34] I was stumped. And so I called Greg Lais, [1:38] who started this a long time ago, [1:41] and a month later we went on a trip into [1:44] the White Otter Wilderness in Ontario. [1:47] And after that went on four more trips. [1:51] - We are just thrilled to be here in Bloomington, Minnesota. [1:54] It is a community that is [1:56] so robust in its multicultural vibe, [1:59] which is just really wonderful [2:00] for the audiences that we serve. [2:02] It's also just a amazing location that's really close [2:05] to the airport, as well as hundreds [2:07] of programming locations we have throughout the whole Twin [2:10] Cities metropolitan area. [2:12] So this has just been many years that we've been looking [2:15] for a new home and headquarters for Wilderness Inquiry. [2:18] - Wilderness Inquiry really has some very unique needs. [2:21] When we were looking for a space. Of course, [2:23] we have office staff that do all the behind the scenes work [2:26] that help make these adventures possible. [2:28] So we really needed about 10,000 square feet [2:31] of office space, [2:32] but our operation also requires an enormous [2:35] amount of infrastructure. [2:36] We have these big 20 foot canoes [2:38] that we take whole classrooms of students out in. [2:41] We call 'em our floating classrooms. [2:42] We really needed an outdoor space …

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