Roger Grein is Headed to the Bottom of the Grand Canyon…with a Little Help!

April 4, 2024 | Written by Lindsey Barta

Our Founder, Mr. Roger Grein, has done many incredible things in his lifetime. Through a 35-year softball coaching career, he led his team to national and world championship victories. He started his own tax accounting firm as a young man after being told he didn’t have a future in the field. He’s been to 2 Super Bowls and 66 Reds Opening Day games! In addition to weathering many of life’s storms, he daily overcomes the challenges of Cerebral Palsy. He started a nonprofit in the “third act” of his life, bringing Magnified Giving to fruition in 2008 at the age of 65.

At 81 years old, however, Roger Grein still isn’t finished. Not only does he make every day count as an active philanthropist and an engaged member of his community, but he’s readying to take on perhaps one of the greatest adventures of his life: hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back! You might be scratching your head and asking, “how is that possible?” The truth is that it would not be possible for Roger to make this formidable and notorious hike on his own. Enter Luke5Adventures! 

Roger is seated in “Rosie” and ready for his first hike with Luke5Adventures on July 2023.

Luke5Adventures is an amazing local nonprofit with the mission of hiking with those who can’t hike themselves. Using an ingeniously engineered “chair-cycle” called Rosie, Luke5Adventures empowers individuals with disabilities to hike. Volunteers help carry and maneuver participants,  and they experience the joys of hiking together. Roger has explored with Luke5Adventures multiple times over the past year on local trails, and he applied for their “Hike-of-a-Lifetime” - the opportunity to journey to the bottom of the Grand Canyon! He was selected, and the organization has been working furiously to make the myriad preparations for the ambitious trip. The trip involves several volunteers who will travel with Roger. The hike will take 3 days, with the group starting the trek into the canyon on April 23rd, camping in the canyon for 2 nights, and arriving back at the trailhead at the rim on the afternoon of April 25th.

Big smiles for Roger! One can only imagine his joy in the Grand Canyon!

Roger first heard about Luke5Aventures through youth philanthropists participating in Magnified Giving! In 2022, multiple groups of students were moved by the mission of Luke5, and they selected the organization as the recipient of their $1,000 Magnified Giving grant. Then in 2023, Carter Flora, a Magnified Giving participant at Turpin High School and the recipient of the Roger Grein Legacy Scholarship, invited Roger on his first-ever hike with Luke5! Carter had become a regular volunteer for Luke5Adventures through his experience with Magnified Giving, and Carter and Roger had a wonderful time hiking together. 

Roger says he is excited for this once-in-a lifetime opportunity and thankful for all the hard-working individuals putting in the effort to make it possible. He’s a little nervous too, but Roger is no stranger to taking advantage of unique opportunities, even when they require great courage and tenacity. A camera crew will be joining the expedition and developing a short documentary about this incredible expedition! We can’t wait to witness and share Roger’s hike-of-a-lifetime!