Earlier this year, Boulder Open Space Conservancy introduced you to Maddy Lignell and the Maddy Lignell Legacy Fund for the Boulder Junior Ranger program. We wish to give an update to our community so you can feel the immediate and meaningful impact of your support if you made a gift in Maddy's memory to the Boulder Junior Rangers. If you weren't able to make a gift at that time, you can still make a gift to Maddy's Legacy Fund for the Boulder Junior Rangers.
Maddy died by suicide in the early morning of May 15, 2021, after a sudden, unexpected, and catastrophic mental health crisis that came on in just a few short days. He was an incredibly special person to all who were very lucky enough to meet him and he continues to be loved and missed every day by his parents Jordana Ash and Oliver Lignell, and his two older sisters, Shayna Trujillo (Pavel) and Hanna Lignell, and many, many family and friends.
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Maddy’s family has chosen to partner with the Boulder Junior Ranger program because this program reflects many of the values that Maddy held dear. Since childhood, he loved to explore and care for the natural environment. Maddy went outside every chance he got and spent considerable time hiking, climbing, camping and discovering beauty in the outdoors. He worked with the Boulder Junior Rangers for four years as a young teenager. On his crew, he learned environmental stewardship, teamwork, and leadership.
The Ash-Lignell Family created the Maddy Lignell Legacy Fund to raise funds for Boulder Junior Rangers. Your contributions to Maddy's Legacy Fund supported both tangible items like gear, bus passes, and food for families as well as personal growth experiences through the underwriting of mental health trainings. The family met with the crew leaders at the beginning and the end of the season to share Maddy’s story and encourage the crew to think deeply about making an impact on the world, as Maddy did.
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The effects from Maddy's Legacy Fund were impactful for the Boulder Junior Rangers as well as for the staff. Read on to learn more from Natasha Steinman, Senior Program Manager, Boulder Junior Rangers.
"When I think about our Program’s partnership with the Lignell Family, and the creation of the Maddy Lignell Legacy Fund with the help of Boulder Open Space Conservancy, every interaction, every dollar impact, and every planning meeting comes back to caring for each other and building a stronger sense of community.
It builds community when the Legacy Fund helps provide food, hiking socks, and boots to low-income youth who really want to participate in this job opportunity but would not otherwise be able to afford high quality equipment for this job. It builds community when Maddy’s family joins the Junior Ranger staff team to share their grief and talk about mental health in such a beautiful, vulnerable, and empowering way. And it builds community when, because of the Maddy Lignell Legacy Fund, we can offer multiple different mental health related trainings to our staff team who tirelessly supports, encourages, and challenges our Junior Rangers to be the strongest version of themselves.
When the Lignell Family joined our staff team of Crew Leads (who are mostly young adults ages 18-25) to share about Maddy, several of my staff came up to me afterwards to tell me how impactful their story and their love is. They shared things like: “I’ve never heard adults talk about grief so openly and it was so powerful to see them do that. It makes me feel more comfortable sharing about hard things in my life” or, in referencing the impact of the Junior Ranger Program: “I’m not really one to talk about my feelings or what’s going on at home, even as an adult now. But I can’t even begin to explain how important this program was to me as a teenager – just knowing that I had a safe, welcoming place to go, where I knew there was someone there who cared and would listen if I ever needed to talk.”
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The two mental health trainings (QPR & Turn Your Anxiety) were powerful, helpful trainings for our Crew Leads. Our team agreed that the QPR training was relevant, useful, challenging, but actionable in all the right ways. It focused on building connection, listening, and then referring to a professional – which is a crucial step for service-oriented young people who tend to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. The Turn Your Anxiety training helped show our team how the constant stimuli of our fast-paced world overwhelms the brain, keeping us in fight/flight/freeze. Some of our Crew Leads found this training “life changing” and very illuminating, giving them actionable tools to help them navigate college life and beyond.
Reflecting on what we’ve accomplished together this year, it reminds me how much impact one individual – or one family – can have. And how that impact multiplies when a whole community rallies around that family to support them, act with them, and give back with them. I am so incredibly grateful for this partnership, and grateful to be able to keep Maddy Lignell’s legacy alive.
Sincerely,
Natasha Steinmann
Sr. Program Manager for the Boulder Junior Ranger Program
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Boulder Open Space Conservancy is an official non-profit partner of the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks department and is hosting Maddy's Legacy Fund. Donations made in 2023 through Boulder Open Space Conservancy will be given to OSMP Junior Rangers program at the end of the year.
To learn more about Maddy Lignell, please take a look at this website.
We gratefully acknowledge that many have already donated to Maddy’s Legacy Fund. Thank you!
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