ABOUT WILDERWONDER

Wilderwonder is 3-day overnight camping experience for youth ages 13-20 from diverse backgrounds and socio-economic statuses to foster childlike wonder, develop vital social and emotional learning skills, and build community with their peers. Wilderwonder deepens campers' self-awareness & self-esteem, helps them identify their greatness and recognize how their gifts can positively transform themselves and the world around them.

Wilderwonder helps young people build friendships, exercise their wonder, and cultivate social-emotional well being!

As educators and youth mentors, we’ve witnessed the loss of normalcy and in-person connection in our young people and their communities since the start of the pandemic. Wilderwonder is our space and community time to bring that back to our young people - a safe, encouraging space to be themselves and to connect with each other. Starting with Wilderwonder, our goal is to create more spaces and events for young people to connect and build healthy community.

Wilderwonder Programs & Nature based activities:

Camp small group discussions
Inclusive group activities that recognize all
Dedicated mentorship time
Hikes
Exploration
Nature Education
Land Acknowledgement

Questions? Email sonia@eayikes.org

ABOUT EAYIKES

Starting in 2013, Eayikes connected youth from neighborhoods across the socioeconomic spectrum through arts & wilderness camps. We harnessed the power of safe space our powerful community of young professionals serving as mentors who model courage, compassion, and childlike-wonder.

We facilitated a-ha moments by cultivating an open mind to others, emphasizing activities centered on the sharing of life experiences and challenging comfort zones to self-reflect, self-explore, and build self-esteem. Our practice and learning experiences from these years continues to inform and re-affirm our path. Youth programming is able to be offered through school contracts and grants.

As our youth programs grew and more young professionals displayed change from their participation, we began to recognize the need for courage, compassion, and childlike-wonder for adults. We believe our vision of a more just and compassionate world will be more quickly attained if more adults are building community and connection in the world. Wondershop events such as Wonderfull Wednesdays simply grew from six community members coming together on a Wednesday after work. Organically, the adult community bloomed all around us. Now, we’ve channeled our collective courage, compassion, and wonder towards our most marginalized neighbors, the unhoused of LA & OC, as well as intersected our love for the outdoors and healing power of Mother Nature to create an annual camping experience.

We are committed to uplifting community health, creating more equity, and doing this work intergenerationally, as we begin seeing a return of the youth who we’ve mentored taking on larger roles as young adults in Eayikes.