news release

For immediate release

For more information, contact:
Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation

Houck Medford , Executive Director
(336) 721-0260

hmedford@brpfoundation.org

Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation Seeks New Development Officer

After only ten years of existence and raising more than one million dollars from private organizations and citizens to benefit the nation's most popular National Park site, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation is recruiting a new fund raising professional to replace its relocating director of development.

Founded by North Carolina native, Dr. Houck Medford, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation was created to identify and cultivate the constituency of the Blue Ridge Parkway as a philanthropic resource. With the Parkway’s diminishing operating funds continually being reduced, directed philanthropic support is desperately needed to maintain for the Parkway’s margin of excellence. “The margin of survival must continue to be funded by the U.S. Congress,” according to Medford, the Foundation’s founding Executive Director, “but America’s National Parks, like our children, are also gifts that need our protection and nurturing.”

Educating the public about the heritage of the Blue Ridge Parkway, including its old-time music, vibrant communities, mountain ranges and pastures, diverse wildlife and wildflowers encourages their appreciation and financial support of the Parkway, recognizing it is “not just a road”, but a “personal journey for a life-time”.

Private philanthropic donations and endowments significantly add support for Parkway projects and programs. Through a statewide initiative, more than 17,000 North Carolina drivers proudly display the state’s special Parkway license tags, providing additional revenue for the Blue Ridge Parkway. Examples of the Foundation’s accomplishments include annual funding of a park-wide hands-on educational outreach programs for schoolchildren, renovation of the Minerals Museum near Spruce Pine, NC and construction of new exhibits and visitor facilities.

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