Our Commitment to Finding a Cure for ALS
How a family camping trip inspired our company, and why we're using it to help cure a disease that changed everything.
It all started with a family camping trip at Namakan Lake.
When we founded our company in 2014, the name Namakan (rhymes with mannequin) just felt right. Like many of us 80s and 90s kids, our co-founder Maggie Davis and her brother Stephen were raised in a blended family. Maggie always said her parents did divorce "right"-- not a lot of drama, and co-parenting with grace.
When her mom Caran remarried, things only got better. Her stepdad Steve and his two amazing daughters entered the picture seamlessly, instilling a love of nature and all things wildlife.
Every summer, Steve and Caran would take the entire crew to Voyageurs National Park. They'd launch the boat on Namakan Lake, motoring deep into the wilderness, and set up camp on a remote island. Cooking, hiking, swimming, catching frogs and fish... they cherished this time as a family.
Steve loved Namakan Lake and visited three times a year.
It's the kind of place where stars seem to outnumber grains of sand, where you can fall asleep to a howl of a wolf (er... maybe wake up to?), and not see another human being for days.
To him, it was heaven on earth.
In 2016, Steve started experiencing shortness of breath.
This physical change came as a total shock. Steve had always been an active guy. He loved to exercise, played softball, and enjoyed chopping wood at the cabin.
After months of tests, they got an unimaginable diagnosis: ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. On August 8, 2018, Steve passed away at home, surrounded by his loving family. He was only 63.
Namakan has taken on a whole new meaning.
It’s about honoring a great man, and spreading his love for the great outdoors through our brand. And to be perfectly honest, it’s also about building a company that we love, and that we’re happy to work on every day. Life is too short to spend your time doing things you don’t enjoy.
In memory of Steve, Namakan is donating a portion of every sale to help find a cure for ALS.
Currently, there’s no cure for ALS, but we’re hopeful the research funded through the ALS Association will soon change that.