National Park Foundation Receives $500,000 Grant During National Park Week
Josh Wolfe 05.03.12
The official charity of America’s national parks, the National Park Foundation, has received a $500,000 grant from the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund. Disney’s goal is to help promote and connect kids and families to America’s national parks. The money will go to the Foundation’s “Ticket to Ride” and “America’s Best Idea” programs, which hopes to inspire America’s youth by providing them with transportation and supporting community projects.
Disney is the first corporate partner to get on board with the Foundation’s “Ticket to Ride” program, which started earlier this year. Its mission is to allow thousands of young folks to experience national parks this spring. This program will essentially help to knock down one of the greatest barriers in the prevention of kids less than 16 years of age visiting national parks. The program is hoping to provide transportation to over 100,000 students each year and engage them in meaningful activities once there.
The National Parks Foundation’s goals are to fund grants and programs that implement awareness for the critical needs in our national parks. These areas include community outreach, getting adults and youth involved in conservation and help from professional organizations, such as Disney. The importance of America’s youth becoming involved in the environment’s health is being brought to light yet again.
For more information about the National Park Foundation, visit their website at www.nationalparks.org.
It didn’t take long for me, following in my father’s footsteps (literally), to develop a deep appreciation for the outdoors. Because it’s there in the wind, in the rain and a cool summer sunrise where I’ve learned more than in all the classrooms combined. My journalistic work is the sum of all I’ve taken from the outdoors and all I want to give back.
It was during a long, grueling two-year stint working as a banker in Huntsville, Alabama, I finally realized I needed to follow my dreams. After sojourning several places across the country, I now call Asheville, North Carolina, home, where I am the co-founder, publisher and editor of The Golf Sport (www.golfsportmag.com) magazine and editor of Sporting Classics Daily (www.sportingclassicsdaily.com). I am also a contributor to OutdoorHub and Global Outfitters, and hope to really inflate that balloon over the next couple years.
For me, it’s the power of the pen that makes the outdoor adventure live forever – as it is resurrected on the page in front of me. I am so fortunate to be a part of the outdoor community and make my passion a career.
