Founded in 2011, the Maison T Ortiz Youth Outdoor Skills Camp is a weekend-long event designed to immerse youths in outdoor skills training and a fun overnight camping experience. The camp is named in honor and memory of Maison T Ortiz, a 15-year-old Galena High School student who tragically died in a snowboarding accident in January 2011. Shortly after Maison’s death, Nevada Bighorns Unlimited, Northern Nevada Chapter of Safari Club International, and The Rotary Club of Sparks, Nevada, the Founding Sponsors, collaborated with the Ortiz family to organize a youth camp in order to remember Maison and to address the glaring need for youth involvement in wildlife-related outdoor activities. The Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) also joined the collaboration as a strategic partner.

Since its beginning in 2011, the camp and its other related activities have operated and raised funds as a part of our Founding Sponsors and collaborators. A Steering Committee and Advisory Council made up of directors and members of those organizations governed. In December of 2016, Maison T Ortiz Youth Outdoor Skills, Inc. (MTOYOS) was incorporated and elected a board of directors. This board along with the Advisory Council now provides governance. In July of 2017 MTOYOS received standalone approval from the IRS as an exempt 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization.

MISSION OBJECTIVES

Our primary focus: IT’S ALL ABOUT THE KIDS!

• • Provide opportunities for inexperienced youth
  • Promote individual and collective safety
  • Promote sportsmanship and ethics
  • Promote stewardship of private and public lands
  • Promote knowledge and respect of wildlife and its habitat
  • Promote the role that sportswomen and sportsmen play in wildlife and habitat conservation
  • Promote the continuation of our outdoor heritage

CORE

• • Honesty

  • Integrity

  • Leadership

  • Ethics

  • Sportsmanship

  • Organization

  • Teamwork

  • Respect

  • Accountability