2024 PEAK BAG
THE FULL SCOOP
"Happiness walks on busy feet.”- Kitte Turmell
Welcome to the 5th Annual Omondi Obura Peak Bag!!! Peak Bag has reached it’s 5th Anniversary!!! For any anniversary aficionados, you will know that the 5th anniversary is the wood anniversary…which some will say makes sense as Omondi and his fellow rowers used both wooden boats and wooden oars as freshmen; others will say it makes sense as wood constitutes the cranial material of the organizers of this event.
But whatever your view, it is very exciting to see Peak Bag enter its fifth year. Some things have remained steady over those five years. The aim of Peak Bag is simple and unchanged: rejoice, remember, connect!. Last year we had over 300 participants "bagging peaks" across 7 continents, rejoicing in each other and the outdoors, remembering those we miss, and connecting with new friends (and re-connecting with old ones).
At the core of Peak Bag is Omondi Obura: an extraordinary classmate whose untimely passing we grieve, but whose spirit and irrepressible lightness of being we celebrate! And in remembering and celebrating Omondi, we also look to improve the lives of young people who today face the same challenges that afflicted Omondi.
Many of you celebrated Omondi's memory by donating as well as peak bagging, and thanks to your incredible generosity, the Omondi Obura Fund for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention is now a permanent fund at Dartmouth - with over $288K to support mental health and suicide prevention programs at The College.
We welcome all walkers, whether you wear green, purple, blue or any other color (though we are partial to green). The need for human connection through movement goes well beyond any one school, tribe, or family. Help us build outward.
The fifth edition of the Peak Bag will take place on October 6, 2024 and we hope that you will join us wherever you are, and however you may have discovered this event, in a day of celebration of the life of a friend to many of us, but also to the multitude of friendships that spawn and endure thanks to Omondi and the other great adventurous, welcoming spirits that, like Omondi’s, bring people together.
Your impact, multiplied
While some things have not changed, other things have. When we created Peak Bag and chose to focus on mental health and suicide prevention, we did so because of its direct link to Omondi. We had no idea that factors such as COVID and the stresses it created would result in a tragic increase in suicides, both at Dartmouth and at colleges across the country. As many of you know, mental health has become a central focus for Dartmouth’s President, and we feel very fortunate that Peak Bag has become a touch point for “grass roots” efforts to raise awareness and understanding. Our hope is that this effort will provide students, who are struggling with the pressures that Omondi struggled with, the support they need to cope.
This is why the founders of Peak Bag are so thankful to everyone who has contributed to the Omondi Obura Fund for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention - to benefit Dartmouth's mental health and suicide prevention programs. These programs include Dartmouth Cares, the current suicide prevention program on campus. Your generosity has helped ensure that at least one community (students, faculty, administrators) will be better equipped to recognize the critical signs of mental illness and to help afflicted students get the support they need.
Small steps taken in multitudes shall move even the greatest of peaks. :-)
