By Steven Luke and Brie Stimson • Published December 14, 2015 • Updated on December 15, 2015
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/nonprofit-helps-african-orphans-climb-kilimanjaro/124023/
With help from an Oceanside nonprofit orphans in Africa get the chance of a lifetime. NBC7’s Steven Luke reports.
For 22 African orphans who received the chance to climb Mount Kilimanjaro the old adage ‘aim high’ is more than just a saying.
A few years back Shankles, who works out of his Oceanside garage, formed the nonprofit Aiding Children's Villages with one simple goal: help orphans in Africa.
Back then he didn't have many contacts or sponsors or much climbing experience himself - which is why he trained on Southern California's highest peak - San Gorgonio.
On his first training hike he and two others took a wrong turn and got lost.
Search and rescue crews canvassed the mountain and the story made national news - eventually the climbers were reunited with anxious family and friends.
He ended up writing a book about his experiences climbing and how it’s affected his Christian faith and life.
Now he partners with groups in Tanzania to bring dozens of kids to the top of Kilimanjaro twice a year.
"They see [Kilimanjaro] every day and most of them, as poor as they are in poverty, they'd never get the chance to do it," he said of the program.
Shankles said he likes to ask kids what they want to be when they grow up before and after the trek and the response after the climb is almost always more confident.
He told NBC7 he hopes to expand the program to less fortunate kids here in San Diego.
Through it all Shankles' message is clear – don’t let your start determine your finish.
Elevated Outlook|Hiker puts failed climb behind him to tackle Mount Kilimanjaro for charity
Written by Lori Arnold, March 2014
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Ryan Shankles and his American hiking partner Jarrot Stanford stood at 18,000 feet. They had already made tremendous progress but were still 1,300 feet shy of the pinnacle of Mount Kilimanjaro, the world’s tallest free-standing mountain.
“We were coming to a mental wall,” Shankles said.
One of three San Diego hikers who got lost last May during a training hike to San Bernardino’s Mount San Gorgonio, Shankles was no stranger to trail-side drama.
At 11,503 feet, San Gorgonio—the highest peak in Southern California—is much less treacherous than Africa’s Kilimanjaro.
But when a snowed-over path blocked their ascent on San Gorgonio, Shankles and friends, David Yoder and Miguel de la Torre, left the trail, only to lose their way and become stranded for four days. While huddled together inside a makeshift cave they created from tree branches, members of their Grace Chapel of the Coast in Oceanside huddled together in prayer at the church, while rescue teams huddled over maps in an effort to track the missing hikers, underdressed in shorts and T-shirts.
The prayers—coupled with the ingenuity of using a small scrap of a red mylar balloon to spark a fire from a fleeting sun—resulted in their high-profile rescue that made national news. The ordeal served to strengthen their friendship, their faith and provide valuable publicity for Shankles’ ministry, Aiding Children’s Villages, the beneficiary of their fundraising climbs.
The May 2013 expedition underscored the ministry’s mission statement: “Conquering the physical and spiritual mountains for those without fathers and mothers.”
“When you go through a life-and-death ordeal, nothing can break that bond,” Shankles said. “We experienced true miracles and, if it means to some that I am in the wrong place, then please, let me be in the wrong place some more.”
The incident on Mount San Gorgonio failed to sway Shankles from his plan to take on Kilimanjaro, though logistical challenges prevented Yoder and de la Torre from doing the same.
“They continue to be a part of what the heart of the organization is striving for,” he said of his buddies.
For the January Kilimanjaro climb, Shankles’ ministry partnered with Treasures of Africa, which is building an orphanage for 120 children, many of them with AIDS, in Moshi, Tanzania.
Swahili song
Helping Shankles and Stanford on the ambitious climb were three Tanzanians, including their guide, Edward “Teacher” Lazaro, who Shankles said inspired them to push through their mental struggles at 18,000 feet. Lazaro, a believer, was making his 602nd climb on Kilimanjaro.
“Teacher started to worship God in Swahili,” Shankles said. “The song seemed familiar, but we could not make out all the words. All I remember is it was 4 a.m., it was dark, and I was tired.”
As Teacher—defying the breath-taking and breath-stealing altitude—got to the chorus of “My God Jehovah,” he asked God to bless each of the climbers.
“He started to name all kinds of people and I heard a group leader below start singing as well and it got louder and my spirit just inflated well beyond the starting point,” the Oceanside resident said. “Both Jarrot and I were in tears of the beauty from God’s servants.”
Shankles said the impromptu worship session motivated them on to Stella Point, about an hour from the summit.
“From that time on, I was walking on clouds,” he said. “We made it to the top.”
Having about 45 minutes on the peak to themselves, Shankles and Stanford took communion at 19,341 feet and then left their calling card, a three-foot metal stake with the inscription “Jesus is Lord.”
“We prayed over the land and asked God for revival for Moshi and for the Treasures of Africa orphanage to be blessed,” Shankles said.
Return trip
Although Shankles conquered the climb, his date with the mountain is not over as he plans to host subsequent climbs to Mount Kilimanjaro every December for the next seven years. Through a sponsorship arrangement with Zara Tours, four teenage orphans from Kilimanjaro Orphanage Centre will also do the climb each year. To help train, he will be joining a group in Israel that plans to hike from Mount Hebron to Jerusalem in September.
“Walking the same steps as Jesus is all of our dreams and we will actually get to do it,” he said.
After the climb, Shankles and Stanford spent four days at the orphanage handing out donated backpacks, soccer balls, nets and other sporting equipment. They attended a ceremonial picnic celebration that drew 100 adults and kids, and later participated in an evangelism conference.
“The common thread through all of this was we know we are being directed by God,” he said. “When God directs your path, you are in His favor and this is a great place to be.”
Learn more at: aidingcv.org
To read more about the harrowing experience see Lost: Hikers experience power of prayer after veering off trailhead
Aiding Children's Villages- A Bigger Climb
Oceanside hikers who disappeared near Big Bear several months ago are taking on a much bigger challenge. NBC 7's Steven Luke reports. (Published Thursday, Nov 7, 2013)
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Once-lost hiker takes vision to the heights
OCEANSIDE'S RYAN SHANKLES WILL LAUNCH HIS NEW MISSIONARY PROGRAM BY CLIMBING MT. KILIMANJARO
By Pam Kragen6 A.M.DEC. 23, 2013
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OCEANSIDE — Because he has a deep and unshakable faith, Ryan Shankles isn’t one to believe in bad luck.
When the Oceanside resident and two fellow hikers were lost in May in the San Bernardino Mountains, he believed their physical and spiritual trials during the four-day ordeal — and their rescue and the national publicity it generated — were divine providence.
“It was a true test of our faith, and it brought out so many people who wanted to help our cause,” he said. “For me, it was a huge blessing.”
Not long after Shankles was rescued by helicopter from 11,503-foot Mount San Gorgonio with David Yoder and Miguel De La Torre Perez, he decided to leave his job to focus full time on Aiding Childrens Villages, a missionary group he founded in December 2012.
The organization will raise money for orphanages and hiking-themed mission trips by rehabbing and selling houses. Its first project, a two-bedroom home on San Simeon Drive in north Oceanside, should enter escrow this week. Sale proceeds will underwrite a trip in January to Tanzania, where Shankles and four others will climb the 19,341-foot Mount Kilimanjaro, then complete two weeks of missionary work at an orphanage in nearby Moshi.
Yoder and Perez aren’t joining the Kilimanjaro climb, but Yoder said he believes there’s nothing — short of an earthquake — that will keep Shankles from reaching the peak and completing his mission.
“I know he has the physical ability to reach the top and get down again with no problem,” Yoder said. “He’s a determined guy and I know nothing will stop him when he sets his mind to it.”
Shankles, 41, admits the transition from a full-time sales management job to unpaid work as a home renovator has been difficult — his wife Jill has a job and they’ve been relying on savings and family help — but he’s confident he made the right decision.
“Giving up the security of a paycheck was a leap of faith, but we’re plugging along and working hard and it should begin to turn for us soon,” he said.
Shankles’ partners in Aiding Childrens Villages are fellow Oceanside residents Christopher Rodriguez and Jarrot Stanford. Rodriguez, a former Marine who served two tours in Iraq, advanced money to buy and renovate the first home through his company Maximum Mortgage & Real Estate. Stanford, who also works for Maximum Mortgage, heads up the missionary group’s marketing and video operations.
“I know Ryan very well and I know his heart is in that ministry, but funds are always lacking. I buy and flip a lot of houses, so God put it in my heart to help them get this started,” Rodriguez said.
The three men met at their church, Grace Chapel of the Coast, where Shankles has run a men’s fellowship program for the past two years. An avid outdoorsman, Shankles led the men’s group on faith-based fishing, hiking and camping trips.
One night, Shankles said, he had a vision that came to him in a dream where he saw three mountaintops decorated with a blue “Jesus is Lord” banner. They were Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro and Israel’s Mount Hermon. With other men in the fellowship, Shankles had banners made and a group of them scaled Half Dome last year. He was on the first training hike for Kilimanjaro last May with Yoder and Perez when disaster struck.
The trio got lost during the day hike and became stranded at a high elevation with no camping gear, matches or warm clothing and only a handful of granola bars and trail mix. They created a makeshift shelter, but it took three days to create a signal fire from the concentrated heat of a sunbeam with a magnifying glass on Shankles’ utility knife and an old Mylar balloon. The next morning, a helicopter spotted the smoke.
“The people at our church held a prayer vigil and I was in tune with that. I could feel their prayers,” Shankles said.
Shankles emerged from the ordeal convinced it was time to follow his heart and focus on his fledgling Aiding Childrens Villages, a partnership that is still awaiting its nonprofit status.
Grace Chapel pastor Ron Ohst said Shankles has found his reason for living though his vision to combine a love for outdoor adventure with his construction know-how in order to raise money for orphanages around the world.
“There’s no secular/sacred divide with Ryan. For him everything is sacred,” Ohst said. “So when he is hiking, it’s for God, and becomes an act of worship. When he’s remodeling a home to sell to raise funds for orphans, it’s for God.”
For the Kilimanjaro trip, Shankles will be climbing with Stanford as well as two Chinese women from Orange County and a man from the United Kingdom. The trip cost, which includes professional guides, will be $4,500 each, with Shankles’ and Stanford’s expenses covered by the sale of the home this month. They also plan to give several thousand dollars to the Moshi orphanage and Stanford plans to raise extra donations through a series of nightly videocasts from the mountain.
Stanford said the organization’s first year operating budget is $250,000, which will go toward home renovations and salaries for himself and Shankles. The group plans to renovate three homes in 2014 and make mission trips to Israel and the Philippines.
Like Shankles, Stanford said he believes there’s divine guidance in the creation of Aiding Children’s Villages.
“I could see Ryan’s vision and where it would go,” Stanford said. “I knew that God showed him the vision.”
pam.kragen@utsandiego.com • (760) 529-4906
Lost Hikers Huddled to Survive Near Big Bear
THE MEN SURVIVED FREEZING TEMPERATURES BY HUDDLING UNDER THEIR BANNER DISPLAYING "JESUS IS LORD"
BY R. STICKNEY AND DAVE SUMMERS
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