Spring Take It Outside Challenge Winners Say Patience, ‘a Little Luck’ Led to Success

The Forest Preserve District of Will County’s spring Take It Outside Challenge ended with seven first-place winners and hundreds of fun memories and accomplishments for participants. They will split $900 in Amazon gift cards that made up the top prizes for the challenge.

The Spring Fling competition, which ended June 15, featured nature-themed missions all over Will County, including GPS check-ins at specific preserve locations, photos of flora and fauna, trivia questions, and selfies. More than 650 people participated, and they completed a total of 25,000 missions to rack-up points. The challenge finished with a total of nine winners in first, but two of those winners were not eligible to win the spring contest since they also placed in first place in the winter seasonal challenge.

Winners for spring were: Bruce Galdek of Minooka, Lori Heitman – Shorewood, Linda Keeling – Chicago, Ginger Leopold – Bolingbrook, Karen Reger – Plainfield, Richard Sulkowski – New Lenox and Suzie Voss – Mokena.

Voss touched on why so many people love the Take It Outside Challenge, which debuted in 2023 as a year-long competition and transitioned to a seasonal format this year, and said: “Although I’ve lived in Will County for more than 30 years and go out to the preserves near my house quite often, the Take it Outside Challenge introduced me to preserves and trails I didn’t know existed. Additionally, I’ve met many new people while out and about completing missions, which is always good for the soul. And the extra exercise is an added benefit of course!”

Keeling noted the challenge takes determination and patience and remarked: “It also took really reading those instructions for the missions carefully, a little luck sometimes, and also sharing tips and hints among fellow Goosechasers,” Keeling said, referring to the Goosechase app participants use for the challenge. “When on future hikes, we will constantly be reminded of things we did or learned during the Take It Outside campaign.”

Heitman said the challenge had special meaning for her. It’s the first competition she’s ever won in her 64 years.

“I live with multiple rare illnesses and have good days and bad days,” she said. “The fact this competition could be done at my own pace made it doable for me…This has improved my quality of life immensely.”

Summer challenge

There is still time to join this year’s Take It Outside Challenge. The Summer Soiree seasonal challenge runs from June 30 to September 21, and a Fall Frolic challenge runs from October 6 to December 14. Challenge rules are posted online. Simply download the free Goosechase app to your smartphone to get started.

Each seasonal challenge will feature a variety of prizes. Amazon gift cards in the amounts of $500, $250, and $150 will be awarded for first, second, and third places, respectively. Additional prizes also will be awarded, including prize packs from Wild Birds Unlimited Joliet. The two Wild Birds Unlimited winners from the spring challenge were Joanne Cain of Lockport and Tracy Miller of Frankfort. The Take It Outside Challenge is sponsored by The Nature Foundation of Will County.