Who We Are
Our Mission
Create and embark on self-funded, expedition length adventures designed to challenge human endurance, spirit and resolve for the purpose of raising funds and awareness for non-profit charitable organizations.
Our Core Values
- Strongly advocate for the cause/charity before, during and after the expedition
- Treat all people with respect
- Embrace unexpected challenges
- Support local small business
Our history
John Silva, retired from the Amador County Sheriff’s Office and formed Give Back Adventures in 2020 to give back to the community he served during his law enforcement career. Give Back Adventures was created for the purpose of combining challenging wilderness expeditions with raising funds and awareness for community based, non-profit charitable organizations.
Operating under Amador Community Foundation, all donations to Give Back Adventures designated charities are tax deductible and 100% is presented to the charity upon the completion of the expedition and fundraising deadline.
Give Back Adventures’ first expedition was a solo 3,000 mile mountain bike ride on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route from Canada to Mexico. The 2021 expedition raised nearly $13,000 for Operation Care who provides vital services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
In 2022, Steven Sugden and I embarked on a multi-sport, 600 mile expedition called “Mokelumne River, Source to the Sea”. The expedition benefitted Foothill Conservancy, a regional conservation group that has successfully worked for more than 30 years to protect, restore, and sustain the natural and human environment in the Central Sierra region of California.
Starting in March 2023, Silva will attempt a solo thru hike on the iconic Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) for 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada for the purpose of raising funds and awareness for Amador Trail Stewardship who improves, develops and maintains multi-use trails in the Amador County area of California.
MEET THE TEAM
John Silva
founder,
give back adventures
I am originally from the mid-Peninsula and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area before I moved to Amador County, California in 1985.
An avid outdoor adventure enthusiast, I took up a variety of human-powered sports including whitewater kayaking, backpacking and biking at an early age. My early passion for solo adventure led me on a hitchhiking trip that took me across the United States and back through Canada in 1977. I gradually settled down with the responsibilities of a career and raising a family, but never let go of my wanderlust and I continue to backpack, kayak and bike; and have a strong passion for the outdoors.
I discovered a new path in life after retiring from a career in law enforcement at the end of 2019 when I formed Give Back Adventures to combine my passion for expedition length wilderness adventures, with raising funds, as well as awareness, for charitable organizations.
I completed a 3,000 mile mountain bike adventure on the Great Divide MTB Route in 2021 to increase awareness of domestic violence and to raise funds for Operation Care who provides vital services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. I was humbled by the kindness of strangers throughout my 3,000 mile MTB bike expedition, as well as by many people who shared personal stories of their past experiences with domestic violence.
Following my 2021 expedition, I realized that as a former law enforcement officer, as well as an older adult male, I have a unique platform to advocate and raise funds for social causes and/or non-profit organizations that I feel strongly about.
I love my newfound path in “retirement” and look forward to planning and going on future fundraising expeditions to raise awareness, as well as funds, for new charitable organizations.
John Williamson
executive director,
amador community foundation
I joined the Amador Community Foundation in January 2022. It is a privilege to be at the helm of a charity that makes such a significant impact in the community I have called home my whole life.
Amador is a unique and beautiful place to live and the residents are friendly and generous. The mission of the foundation is to connect local generosity with local needs. I believe in this foundation. It has changed lives through program support and grants totaling over $7.8 million dollars, and I am proud to be a part of such an organization.
John Silva’s Give Back Adventures is the title behind the man who road 3,000 miles on a solo bike journey to benefit Operation Care. This was no small feat. It was a challenging route!
Amador Community Foundation is proud to work with John as his nonprofit umbrella. I consider it a personal privilege to work with John as he gives back to the community. We look forward to John’s next project.
Stephen Sugden
world
adventurer
My name is Stephen Sugden. I am from outside of Philadelphia, PA and currently live in Utah. I met John aka “Ziptie” in a section of grizzly highway on the east slope of Swan Valley, Montana during our mutual attempts at the Great Divide Route in 2021. It wasn’t four hours after learning about his inspiring cause and “Badassery” that I was saving his butt on the single track downhill in Grizzly Gulch.
Both of his rear stays snapped and he was walking in my way! My riding partner and I splinted his stays with zipties over a tire lever and a chain brake tool. He rode over 100 miles to Helena, Montana on that field repair. Hence, John’s trail name, “Ziptie”. So when John asked me to be a part of this amazing expedition (Mokelumne River, Source to the Sea), I wasn’t surprised. Who else is going to bail him out in hairy situations? All jokes aside, John’s leadership and overall mentorship of those around him on the Divide inspired me and so many others to invest and support his vision. He has created purpose, compassion and community around his goals and adventures.
I began my outdoor career in New Zealand, learning to climb, kayak and backpack. After college, I worked for the Utah Conservation Corps where I worked on a trail crew surveying backcountry trails and managing invasive plant species. I am an avid cyclist and human powered adventure enthusiast who loves Mother Nature. I have biked across the entire United States, walked the Camino De Santiago, hiked to Annapurna base camp and completed the Great Divide MTB route, to name a few.
I believe that we all develop varying levels of connection with people, places and things when we immerse ourselves. As we do so, we grow a stewardship to protect those things. It is an honor to be a part of such an adventure for two reasons; to watch the soul of a man shine and to learn how to adventure with purpose and stewardship for that which binds us all, nature.