Support the Olsen's River Tradition Recovery

Whitney Montandon is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Hello friends! My name is Whitney. On Friday June 21 2024,my 4 siblings and I along with all of our kids and spouses were in a life threatening incident while river running the San Juan River. What started as an annual family trip doing something we all love and want to pass along to our own kids, ended in us being apart of a 100 year flood in Mexican hat/bluff utah, losing everything but our lives and having to be evacuated by search and rescue.

This gofund me is to ask for help if you feel like you can, and donate to help all five of our families somehow replace And start rebuilding our boats and gear.

While we are all so incredibly lucky to be alive and safe and fully recognize this, my siblings and I have all lost Thousands upon thousands of dollars for each of us in river running gear. We grew up as a family doing this and are devastated at this loss and the possibility we won’t be able to continue this family bonding tradition with our kids, like our parents did us .

If you have a love for the outdoors and river running you know how amazing it is to raise your kids in that environment and the togetherness it creates. you also know how much goes into getting all you need to do so. Please read and share our story and if you feel inclined, a donation to help us rebuild would be so so appreciated.

The total of the amount here will be split between all 5 Olsen families (myself and my siblings) to help us put that towards the costs of new boats, frames, oars, dry boxes, coolers, life jackets, tents and much more. Anything will help us so anything is appreciated.

The article below is my brother being interviewed about the flash flood we escaped from. As well as pictures and an explanation of what happened and what our big ask of help is.❤️

https://kutv.com/news/local/major-flooding-in-san-juan-county-sweeps-away-boats-in-exchange-for-safety-justin-olsen-mexican-hat-southern-utah-four-corners-flood-flash-weather#

here pictures detailing this event from my IG to help describe what happened. We are still in shock and it’s easier to screen shot this than write It again, I hope you understand.

How it started

How it ended

Moments later the whole camp was under water and all of our boats were gone.

The river went from 3 inches deep to about 30 feet deep in the Side stream in about 12 minutes.

We had 13 kids with us age 6-15 and were so lucky to get them all to high ground and safe.

We were in the cross hairs of a 100 year flood. While our boats are replaceable lives are not and we are so grateful we are all here.

Here is a shot someone got of our boats miles down in town, empty and moving quick in a debri pile. The boats are now stripped and destroyed.

Please help us replace our boats. Anything you can do to help my siblings and I replace what we lost , so we can keep this generational tradition alive will be greatly appreciated.