Trip of a Lifetime (2026, Annual)

In July, we hosted our first Trip of a Lifetime: a week in Alpine, Wyoming, for two families facing a terminal illness or another life-altering event. No hospitals. No appointments. Nowhere to be. Just time together in the mountains, camping in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, about an hour outside Jackson Hole.

We partnered with Jackson Hole Outfitters to build a week that felt like an escape rather than a break from treatment. We covered every part of it: lodging, meals, transportation, and guided activities, so all a family had to do was show up and be together. The days were full: horseback riding, fishing, learning to rope, swimming, campfire meals, and time with the other family sharing the week.

"We wanted to build this trip around the good in things," said Karl Studer, President of Electric Power at Quanta Services and founder of the Karl Studer Foundation. "Instead of dwelling on what's difficult, we wanted these families to spend a week noticing what they still have: each other."

The idea came from a simple thought: a diagnosis can take away a lot, but it can't take away what a family chooses to do with the time it has left.

One family wrote to us afterward. "The experience offered far more than we could have ever expected," they said. "Through it all, we were reminded that there is still so much goodness in the hearts of people and so much beauty in the world when we disconnect from everyday distractions and focus on what truly matters. Most importantly, you gave our family the gifts of connection, belonging, and normalcy."

Another line from that letter has stayed with us: "Life is not defined only by who we are, but by how we live, how we love, and how we care for others." That's about as close as we can get to explaining why we started this.

Looking Ahead

We're planning to run Trip of a Lifetime every year, and we want to grow it so more families get a week like this one.