Introducing...Park & Trail Champions!

Our monthly supporters are so critical to our success and their impact so great that we have given them a special name: Park & Trail Champions!

Park & Trail Champions ensure that our green spaces, which give us so much, are protected and have a strong voice in Albany. This is a group truly committed to preserving our precious green spaces today and for future generations 365 days a year.

But don’t take our word for it…

Meet John. A retired mechanical engineer, John, like many of our supporters, is unfaltering in his commitment to New York’s outdoor spaces.

“Since I retired, it’s my life. I spend a good deal of my time on it and it’s the right thing to do. I look forward to my grandkids being able to keep riding and enjoying these spaces in the future.”

A long-time advocate for multi-use trails, greenways, and cycling, John is the Chair of his town's Trails and Open Space Committee and a member of the Champlain Canalway Trail Working Group. His work as a bike/ped and trail advocate started with rides on the Zim Smith and Champlain Canalway Trails ten years ago.

“I was winding down a consulting career, tired of working. I’d heard about these local trails and I got on the Zim Smith and thought, ‘wow, what a great experience!’ And I’ve been getting involved with what I care about ever since.”

But what, you ask, does John’s hard work and advocacy have to do with Park & Trail Champions? A lot, because he has been one for a year this October, before the group got a new noteworthy name.

“PTNY has been a frequent and substantial contributor to the work we do here. And I thought to myself: ‘Well, okay, put your money where your mouth is.’ We try to use our resources appropriately. I feel like giving to PTNY is what I’m supposed to be doing.”

As to why John gives monthly, it really comes down to convenience and intent.

“As a retired person who’s gien money throughout his whole life, I don’t like to be called or solicited.”

“I’m moving from responding to solicitations to ‘this is what I believe in, and I’ll proactively support it.”

Thank you to John, and our other Park & Trail Champions, for your commitment to the work we do. It wouldn’t be possible without you.

If you’d like to join this committed group, any amount has a big impact!

Sign up to become a Park & Trail Champion here!