Are you an outgoing, outdoorsy organizer? Do you want to help alleviate suffering in the world caused by mental illness and promote the enjoyment and responsible use of wilderness trails?
Our success and growth is fueled by responsible, organized hike organizers, willing to plan, promote and lead.
It’s that simple – plan, promote, and lead. Here is how it works:
PLAN
1. Pick a hike or walk you would like to lead.
The length and difficulty level of your hike are really up to you. We find that two to five mile distances with moderate difficulty work best if you want to attract general interest.
2. Pick a date and time for your hike.
Six weeks or more in the future will give you time to recruit people to join the hike, promote your hike, and also give your hikers enough time to sign up and fundraise for the hike. Weekends, obviously, tend to attract more people, and a mid-morning start time seems popular.
3. Provide us with info to post the hike on our website
Provide us with information, date, starting time, estimated finishing time, starting trail-head or meetup spot, length of the hike, name of the trail or trails, the route you plan to take, and any attractions on the hike you would like us to highlight. We will work with you to collect the needed info.
PROMOTE
The best publicity is you. Here are some ideas.
- Tell friends, family, co-workers, Facebook friends, Twitter followers
- You can approach local hiking clubs or service organizations.
- We can assist with drafting a media release that you could send to local newspapers and other media outlets
- Tell people standing in line at the convenience store and everyone you know about it!
- Be enthusiastic and let them know it is for a good cause.
- Direct everyone to the website for details and for registration.
Once someone registers, we will email them to get them started fundraising with their own fundraising page. All donations are handled through the website
LEAD
About a week before the hike, we will email a reminder with details on starting time and place to all registered hikers.
Any of your registered hikers who raise $250 or more will receive a HIKE for Mental Health shirt.
Start the hike, have fun, and take lots of pictures.
A NOTE ABOUT SAFETY
For safety reasons, we pay for and ask all hike directors to sign off on a criminal background check. We wish we didn’t have to do it, but out of an abundance of caution, we believe it is an appropriate measure to take. We hope you understand and appreciate the reasons for it. If you have any concerns, please do talk with us about it.
You can make a difference
HIKE for Mental Health is an all-volunteer organization. People like you are what make the organization go.
Sound like a great opportunity to get involved, click here to submit a contact form. We look forward to partnering together and moving forward to eliminate the stigma, one hike at a time.
