Dear John,

My first trip to the Boundary Waters was when I was twelve. I went through YMCA Camp Widjiwagan and I have returned every year since. The trips I have been on to the Boundary Waters have taught me many different practical lessons and taught me a lot about myself.

Carrying a one hundred pound, wooden canoe on your shoulders is never an easy feat but carrying one while hiking from lake to lake at twelve years old taught me some important lessons about determination and perseverance. When trekking across portages, I learned to think about how the struggle now is worth the reward of getting to the next beautiful lake. These lessons and skills came in handy when I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma.

Thanks to a generous commitment by the National Parks Conservation Association and The Wilderness Society, your tax-deductible donation will be matched up to $10,000 if you give before September 27!

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When I was diagnosed with cancer in eighth grade, my world was flipped upside down. Treatment was a struggle and life was hard, but I treated the adversity like a long portage. We sang songs, we told jokes, sometimes we went in silence, but I kept thinking of that beautiful lake as the finish. During treatment I wasn't allowed to be more than thirty minutes from a hospital and because of that my trip to the Boundary Waters that summer was canceled, but I never lost sight of returning as soon as my treatment was done.

When Make-A-Wish offered me a wish, I wanted to return every year to the Boundary Waters and be able to pass that tradition down to my kids. At the time I did not know about the threat posed to the Boundary Waters by sulfide-ore copper mining. I asked for a Blacklite Seliga Northstar Canoe. This canoe means a lot to me and it is a canoe my kids will be able to inherit. When asking for this canoe, I had more than just myself in mind: I was thinking about my future descendants and that’s why I got involved with Kids for the Boundary Waters upon hearing about the Twin Metals copper-sulfide ore mine.
Please join me and Kids for the Boundary Waters in fighting for the future of this special place.

Thanks for your support,
Liam Schatzlein
Kids for the Boundary Waters
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Save the Boundary Waters
P.O. Box 625
Ely, MN 55731
United States