[Clem1640]

Sab-BOT-age went through a couple of crises which came very close to shutting us down.

In 2008 we lost our Teacher / head mentor in the middle of build season. One of the other mentors (me) fortunately stepped forward to keep things going, but nothing had been arranged or discussed ahead of time, so this was largely a matter of luck (and a great deal of ignorance on my part). But we kept alive.

Without a teacher, we lost school support and a place to work. Fortunately, we were able to reorganize into a corporation (and eventually into a 501(3)(c) organization) so that we had a financial entity. We were also successful at convincing companies with unused warehouse space to allow us to use this space under very reasonable terms. The team spent a few years moving from warehouse to warehouse before finding a new home.

We were very fortunate in having a dedicated core of mentors, students and parents during these tough years willing to put in extraordinary effort to keep the team alive and active. Without this passionate effort directed at keeping the team alive, we would not be around today.

So I find it easy to see how teams fold. It's also great to see so many able to stick around for the long term.