A Steppe Ahead is a small nonprofit program associated with the Emmaus House that organizes outdoor skill-building trips for children in inner-city Atlanta. A Steppe Ahead is a backpacking and outdoor adventure program designed to introduce children from inner-city Atlanta to the outdoors in a way that encourages discipline, self-growth, self-empowerment, education, and the development of team-working skills.

The Emmaus House Episcopal Center is located in the Atlanta neighborhood of Peoplestown, near Turner Field. Peoplestown is a vibrant and resilient neighborhood with a rich cultural history, but it faces many of the same issues that other inner-city neighborhoods encounter.

The Emmaus House offers a summer camp for children in grades K-5. Unfortunately, neither the Emmaus House nor any other organization in the community offers programs for middle-school aged children in Peoplestown. Children in Peoplestown would attend the Emmaus House summer camp from kindergarten until they graduated the fifth grade and once they entered the sixth grade, they were out on the streets; too old for camp and too young for work. A Steppe Ahead was started in 2002 in an effort to fill this void.

By executing A Steppe Ahead in a therapeutic and nurturing environment that is sensitive to the dynamics of cultural diversity, A Steppe Ahead promotes a greater understanding amongst the races. It operates as a foot-driven vehicle for understanding and compassion through shared experiences in a racially-neutral outdoor environment. We seek to be more than just a program for children but to act as a means for people from different backgrounds to get to know each other.

We operate under this basic premise: maximize the relatively inexpensive resources of the outdoors to greater serve a community that is at a high-risk of experiencing the effects of poverty and crime while at the same time fostering interaction between children from different socio-economic backgrounds. This was the vision that Jack Steppe exemplified throughout his life. Jack Steppe, an Episcopalian, was an avid outdoorsman and poverty advocate who died in 2002. A Steppe Ahead is a tribute to Jack's life and encompasses two of his passions, urban ministry and the outdoors.

A Steppe Ahead is continually updating its services and trying to extend the scope of its outreach. The program relies on support from individuals who want to make a commitment to a program associated with the rich history of the Emmaus House and the structure and accountability of the Episcopal Church. This is where you come in; please make a donation that represents your level of commitment, charity, and outreach to the children of Peoplestown and the extension of ministry at the Emmaus House.

Please make donations payable to, "The Emmaus House" with "A Steppe Ahead" on the memo line.

Please send checks to:
The Emmaus House
1017 Hank Aaron Dr.
Atlanta, Ga. 30315

Thank you for you time and consideration. Any and all of your donations will be greatly appreciated!

If you are a current Emmaus house member, please do not make a donation to A Steppe Ahead in lieu of a donation to the Emmaus House -- but please consider extending your generosity to this worthwhile cause.