Hero’s Quest participants spend a weekend at the Redwood National and State Park’s Howland Hill outdoor facility just outside Crescent City, experiencing a series of activities designed to open them up to greater self-awareness, mindfulness, personal and community responsibility, according to coordinator Ron Cole.

“True rites of passage programs are rare. That our community has one speaks volumes about its feelings towards its youth and its own future,” Cole said.

The program, supported by Buildings Healthy Communities, is directed by local Native Americans in conjunction with leaders and participants in national and international rites of passage programs.

The first Hero’s Quest was done in 2014 and the young men who participated are influencing the program today, Cole said.

“The promise that a group of men would be prepared to support these young men and hold them accountable to themselves and each other in confidentiality has been kept,” he said. “They have met weekly since 2014 and will continue for the foreseeable future.”

Hero’s Quest applications can be picked up in Crescent City at Wild Rivers Market, Griffin’s Furniture and Wild Rivers Community Foundation. Online applications at gatewayeducation.net or facebook.com/gatewayedu. For more Information call Ron Cole 707-951-7666 and Anthony Trombetti 707-954-4224.