What a wonderful organization is Courage Incorporated, an Upper Peninsula-based volunteer non-profit organization.

Courage Incorporated works with individuals and veterans with physical disabilities to enjoy the woods and the water which are plentiful here in the U.P.

Courage Incorporated was founded in 2015 and its first outdoor adventure took place in 2016 — the organization took a disabled veteran on a weekend camping trip.

Since then it has put together myriad adventures.

“There is a reason why the U.P. is called ‘God’s Country,'” Courage Incorporated Founder and Executive Director Erik Conradson said. “We live in one of the most beautiful places in the world surrounded by an abundance of natural resources. The woods and the water should be able to be enjoyed by everyone, however, that is not the case.”

Conradson said people with physical disabilities, different abilities and those living with chronic and debilitating and terminal illness make up an under-represented segment of the outdoor recreation community.

“Sometimes it is the inability to access certain locations without specialized gear that keeps people from participating in outdoor activities,” Conradson said. “Sometimes it is fear that keeps them away. What if I fall? What if I can’t get in our out of a boat? What if someone laughs at me?”

The cost of procuring the outdoor gear itself is enough to keep people away like people who may already have medical debt or limited income due to their disability, Conradson said.

“Whatever the reason is, we want to change that. We are giving people the chance to have a memorable outdoor experience. We are helping people change their own perceptions of what is possible for them in the outdoors,” Conradson said. “Our work is important because we are enriching people’s lives in one of the purest forms, through nature.”

Kudos to Courage Incorporated for all it does. We hope the community comes out for the organization’s first community fundraiser. It will be on April 29 at Pasquali’s in Negaunee.

The public is welcome to join from 5-8 p.m. for an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet dinner for $10, with children 6 and under for free, as well as a ticket for the door prize drawing.

There will also be more tickets available for gift baskets raffles, a 50/50 drawing and other prizes.

For more information on Courage Incorporated, visit its website at courageincorporated.org.