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GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES UNLIMITED P.O.

Box 10717 Albuquerque, New Mexico 87184-0717

Adapt Overcome Succeed

December 2, 2013 Dear Friend, Thanks to your generous support and a number of grants, 2013 has been another extremely successful year in which Global Opportunities Unlimited has been able to build on our many programs and add a few new ones that allow individuals with disabilities to ADAPT, OVERCOME, and SUCCEED. One of our newer programs that has become an instant hit is Go Unlimited Trekking. With assistance from the Paralympic Sports organization we have added two hand cycles and a recent grant from The N.M. Commission on Disability will allow us to add an unbelievable Mountain Trike In July we held a wonderful ride for disabled veterans down by the Rio Grande. This was so popular that in 2014 we plan to hold a monthly ride from Bachecci Park in Albuquerque. Another new program is the Paralympic Club shooting sports. This covers .22 Rifles and Pistol as well as Archery. The equipment was provided from the Paralympic Organization and includes adaptive equipment that allows quadriplegics to shoot. June has become the month when we take children from Carrie Tingley fishing at Tingley Beach. In total we hosted thirty children and their families and everybody had a wonderful time. One difference from previous years was that due to extreme fire dangers we could not barbeque. Thanks to support from Rudys BBQ we had great food and even were able to provide barbeque the following day at their aquatics activity day. Our wheelchair basketball team, The Albuquerque Kings had another good year playing in six tournaments across the country and is ranked twelfth in the nation. They now have three regular practice sessions each week at various locations in Albuquerque and always welcome new team members. Our adult fishing program got the fishing year off to a great start. We hosted two groups at Ute lake outside of Logan. This was made possible by a generous grant from The New Mexico Community Foundation. Later on in the year we combined a great weekend fishing trip at Navajo lake with a one day float trip down the San Juan river for a group of eleven disabled veterans.

There have been a number of successful hunts for prey as diverse as Elk, Deer, Antelope and Buffalo. With the weather turning colder there are a few more hunts already scheduled.
Global Opportunities Unlimited, Inc. is a 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) non-profit organization. Your donation is tax deductible as allowed by law.

Over the course of the year we have been closely working with the Albuquerque VA Medical Center to assist with adaptive sports and recreation for disabled veterans. Since distributing our materials and organizing an on site Adaptive Sports and Recreation Expo at the VA we have become very busy answering calls from disabled veterans and assisting in connecting them with opportunities. Over the course of the year, specifically for the veterans, we organized wheelchair basketball games, hand cycle rides, hunts, and fishing trips. We also found a way to help veterans acquire adaptive equipment for personal use. The VA is unable to purchase hand cycles and other adaptive equipment for disabled veterans until so many hours are logged using the equipment. This is a huge inconvenience for the user and access to hand cycles and other adaptive equipment is very limited. So what we are doing is loaning our hand cycles to veterans for free so that they can log the necessary hours for the VA to purchase one for them. We are also trying to duplicate that same process for quadriplegic veterans by loaning our adaptive shooting devise. We recently received wonderful news regarding two large grants we had applied for. We were awarded both! The first is from the Craig H. Neilson Foundation. This will provide GOU with a much needed new Pontoon Boat. The second was from the New Mexico Technology Assistance Program. This one will provide us with a unique piece of equipment in the State, an adapted Off Road Utility vehicle. It will give us great flexibility and aid many of our programs. It will:

o Be drivable by any paraplegic by utilizing driver hand controls. o Provide a seat designed specifically to accommodate and support a quadriplegic passenger in the front passenger position. o Provide a loading assist system to aid users in loading a power chair, materials, or game into the utility bed. o Have the loading assist system controlled from the driver position. o Have 4 seat carrying capacity. o Use an easy load front passenger seat to accept quadriplegic passenger. o Have an enlarged carrying/utility bed.
One group of individuals that need a special vote of thanks every year is our tireless volunteers. Their help with everything from administrative tasks, to fundraising, to providing muscle for our rugged outdoors programs no doubt makes GOU the organization it is today. If you are interested in volunteering please visit our web site www.gounlimited.org and send an email or give us a phone call. We graciously request you consider making a financial, equipment, hunting permit or other donation to support the cause. With your continued support we will be able to further develop our programs and increase the number of disabled children and adults we can serve. Together we can enrich the lives of many such individuals, and assist in their pursuit of activities that are normally only accessible to the able bodied.

Sincerely,

Dustin Berg Executive Director

Global Opportunities Unlimited, Inc. is a 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) non-profit organization. Your donation is tax deductible as allowed by law.

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