On behalf of the Adventus Board of Directors, we would like to thank our loyal partners for supporting us in our first year of operation. You may ask, what do we mean by our “loyal partners?” We define those as:

• First Ascenders – You trusted us first, shared the climb with us by experiencing our construction progress and building community, invested in our business when we needed it most and allowed us to open when we proposed. We will always have a soft spot in our hearts for them.

• Members – Ongoing supporters of this climbing community, without your continuing support it would be impossible to keep Adventus open and operational.

• Guests – We are very excited to continue introducing climbing to the Toledo community to many people who have not climbed before. Many of you started as guests and have transitioned to members.

• Staff – We have struck “gold” with our hiring process. We cannot say enough positive things about the enthusiasm, diligence, skills, and overall competence of our team.

• Ongoing business partners (like Joshua Tree and Ridge & River) who have provided skin care products and equipment to conquer all your projects.

• Owners (my fellow board members) – All board members have donated many “free” hours to making Adventus a success.

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Already one year under our belt. My dad always told me that as you get older, time accelerates…..but this last year has been a blur for me and the Adventus team.

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As most of our loyal partners are aware, this project has been going on for years. Anniversaries call for a time of reflection. You may or may not recall, our various board members all had individual plans to open a rock climbing facility. Jamie, Rachel, Dave, Hoag’s were all considering options, and Ben & I were looking for a site to start a climbing gym. In the end, I believe God brought all of us together and allowed us to find common ground to unite.

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Reflect on how easy it is to come to a consensus with one spouse or partner or colleague or even friend, not always easy, is it? Our board is made up of 8 voting entities, each with an equal vote. Picture coming to a consensus on a major investment like Adventus with people you really did not know. Assuming you get past this, imagine coming up with a working agreement and operational plan that all can get behind!

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As I reflected on this, I believe several key points brought the team together prior to opening and allowed us to be standing here now with a successful year behind us:

• Common purpose – Independently, we all had a similar vision to provide something purposeful and healthy to the people in the Toledo area (mind, body, family). We boiled this down to our mission ”we create space for anyone to climb”.  This is a critical element for us.

• Rachel, who served as the project manager during the business development and construction process and kept us aligned and accountable to press forward within budget and over the last year establish systems and processes to care for our facility, property and finance monitoring.

• Hiring Ben Waggoner to be the leader of “all things climbing” and to give him the freedom to help design the walls and facility flow, create vision for route setting and determine how we could best operate to serve our climber community.

• Laura offering to lead the operational implementation and run the operations with much lower compensation than she could easily find in other businesses based on her experience.

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We believe Adventus has had a successful first year:

• Provided a place for all to climb

• Created safety systems for all levels of climbing

• Provided a great variety of routes (Ben, Joel, John, Taylor) with a varying skill level

• Provided a great staff and a warm, friendly environment for all

• And of course, the doors are still open, so all of the bills have been paid….

 

This is all still a work in progress, and we learn every day; so please continue to provide suggestions. We are listening and committed to providing feedback on your suggestions. Of course, we cannot implement all of them for many different reasons, but, be assured we review every one of them. A lot more to come…….

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Thanks again to all our loyal partners for a successful first year!

Mike Pollock

Partner / Board Chair