View Full Version : I am going to donate $50,000. Who should get it?
WisconsinHiker2011
02-07-2011, 12:49
My family and myself have decided to make a donation of $50,000 to a Appalachian Trail organization.
Before we do this, we have decided based on my strong urging to ask my fellow users of WhiteBlaze their opinion. I know WhiteBlaze is a tiny minority of the users of the A.T., but we feel all opinion is welcome.
Which organization should get the money? Who do you feel would best put a sudden $50,000 windfall to the best use, in a prompt amount of time?
Finally, as requested by my father, he enjoys seeing his name on buildings and rooms he donates to. Does anyone know of any such opportunity in regards to the A.T.?
It is not a requirement, but he does enjoy leaving his mark on history. :cool:
mweinstone
02-07-2011, 12:51
moderators. shut down this thread please. it is an embarresment to all of those who love our trail. please ban this user permenently. i changed my mind, i beleive hes a troller who can damage the quality of our diproductive discusions and impact new hikers negitivly. please
mat weinstone
LoneRidgeRunner
02-07-2011, 12:53
moderators. shut down this thread please. it is an embarresment to all of those who love our trail. please ban this user permenently. i changed my mind, i beleive hes a troller who can damage the quality of our diproductive discusions and impact new hikers negitivly. please
mat weinstone
I second that motion.
swjohnsey
02-07-2011, 12:53
Give it to me and I will embroidery his name on my pack and leave little memorials along the trail on approximately a daily basis.
mweinstone
02-07-2011, 12:56
dude, i aint your fellow nothin. your an abuser . you have now entered into the arena of get the hell away from my hikers and my trail. your insulting everything the AT is. you are not welcome to hike with me. no bacon. no hikin. no nothin. your need to discuize your hatred of "hippy hikers" is belaying your selfinflateing ego. fly away now clarise.
max patch
02-07-2011, 12:56
Easy lives!!!
mweinstone
02-07-2011, 12:59
spelled diproductive . ment to spell productive. kid got to me. soory. what the hecks diproductive anywhay? god im dieing to talk about something other than pissconsonhiker.
WisconsinHiker2011
02-07-2011, 13:01
The donation is going to be made if we get input here or not. I am leaning towards local volunteer chapters such as the MATC, but my father wants to donate to the ATC.
This would be so much easier if I could tell you our family name, but we value our privacy.
All we ask is your opinion, if you would rather attack me, so be it. Its your choice, we just hoped some hiker insight would help guide our donation.
Mock all you want, but this is a real thing and it will be reported as such, and everyone here will regret their unprofessional postings.
Ladytrekker
02-07-2011, 13:03
You have entered a no fly zone. Most hikers do not hike to be noticed and they are not self promoting. You will not get positive responses from the masses. Hiking is a self fulfilling act and accolades and records are not needed. I don't think you get this site or why people hike the AT or any other trail.
Hikers hike to get away from the norm escape the everyday crap that happens in life and to share the bounty that nature has to offer to socialize with people that think like they do.
When you find the woods and the solitude of nature more fulfilling than the normal life most of us live you won't ever get it.
I still get excited to see an armadillo and if I had a dime for everyone I have ever seen while hiking I could retire, but I will still take time to watch it.
I hope you figure it out but not sure you will on this site.
LoneRidgeRunner
02-07-2011, 13:03
spelled diproductive . ment to spell productive. kid got to me. soory. what the hecks diproductive anywhay? god im dieing to talk about something other than pissconsonhiker.
have no clue Matty (diproductive) but I like the new name you have given this guy..(or whatever it is) "pissconsinhiker".. wtg Matty! u da man!
If you valued your privacy, you wouldn't be posting your plans on the fecking internet.
flemdawg1
02-07-2011, 13:04
You can just send the cash to me.
In return I'll wear a peice of masking tape with your Dad's name on it across my forehead as I section hike this Spring.
mweinstone
02-07-2011, 13:05
my springer feavers so bad i need an icebath.
its so bad missconsonhikers actualy distracting my pain
its so bad learning to spell sounds fun
its so bad im useing my pack straps as smelling salts
its so bad ...i would guide blissconson to maine for a free ride. thats really really bad.
and ill throw in listening him with a sinceere look on my face each nite at camp.
and ill defend him. phisicly, not verbaly.
i got springer feave so bad i will volenteeraly spend eternity with this nut, if i could hike.
Sickmont
02-07-2011, 13:07
For 50 grand i'll have his name tattooed across my forehead just before my thruhike.
WisconsinHiker2011
02-07-2011, 13:08
If you valued your privacy, you wouldn't be posting your plans on the fecking internet.
Why not? Our business is a international one. We value our personal privacy, but not our business.
And it is not myself who wants his name on something, it is my father. I understand the trail better than most being a historian. He does not, and just enjoys having his name on buildings and stuff. :rolleyes:
Like I said it is not a requirement and the donation will be made discreetly to the chosen organization.
I will make it simpler, which local trail maintaining group do you feel needs the money the most?
LoneRidgeRunner
02-07-2011, 13:08
If you valued your privacy, you wouldn't be posting your plans on the fecking internet.
Also..if your family values their privacy why have your old man's name plastered all over the AT? And is your old man's name plastered all over everything..LNT? Open mouth..insert foot....that's what you just did....:rolleyes:
You can just send the cash to me.
In return I'll wear a peice of masking tape with your Dad's name on it across my forehead as I section hike this Spring.
Great idea!
LoneRidgeRunner
02-07-2011, 13:12
You can just send the cash to me.
In return I'll wear a peice of masking tape with your Dad's name on it across my forehead as I section hike this Spring.
I can do better than that ..I'll name all my cat holes after him...and you...
Pete Moss
02-07-2011, 13:12
You can just send the cash to me.
In return I'll wear a peice of masking tape with your Dad's name on it across my forehead as I section hike this Spring.
I agree with most the post as this is a very-self gratifying thread. BUT.... This isnt a bad idea....If you really want to do some good with 50 grand use a little bit every year as a hiking scholarship. There are lots of deserving people who would love to thru hike but dont have the funds. you could give 3,000/year to a deserving individual to attempt a thru hike that you fund as they go up to that 3,000.
Just my .02 cents if you want some input....
mweinstone
02-07-2011, 13:13
family name: mud
thing you'll never hike with us in?: mud
stuff your slinging?:mud
foundation your argument is built on?:mud
Cookerhiker
02-07-2011, 13:13
It's funny but I've had "visionary" moments myself.
I've looked with dread at a future in which the AT is lost in a world of corporate sponsorship.
I've fantasized writing a short story entitled The Last White Blaze in which our intrepid hiker of 100 years hence hears a rumor that there was once an Appalachian Trail between Georgia and Maine marked by white blazes. At an antique market, he finds an old guidebook and uses it to try and find a blaze. But alas it's hard to navigate because the place names are now WalMart Mountain and Gates Gap and Comcast Ridge and Coca-Cola River, and because where the trail corridor should be is unrecognizable with all the condos, fast food restaurants, and sprawl.
Of course this was all fiction - depressing but it wouldn't really happen, right. The AT won't go the way of sports stadiums and public events and (coming soon) highways and public schools with "naming rights," would it? Would it?
WisconsinHiker2011
02-07-2011, 13:13
Correction:
The thread title should say
" My family and I are going to donate $50,000. Who should get it? "
I am going to donate soon so I can edit this myself, but until then forgive me for these corrections! :o:o:o
WisconsinHiker2011
02-07-2011, 13:15
I agree with most the post as this is a very-self gratifying thread. BUT.... This isnt a bad idea....If you really want to do some good with 50 grand use a little bit every year as a hiking scholarship. There are lots of deserving people who would love to thru hike but dont have the funds. you could give 3,000/year to a deserving individual to attempt a thru hike that you fund as they go up to that 3,000.
Just my .02 cents if you want some input....
Thank you! I never even considered this at all. I was so focused on groups, I forgot about deserving individuals. I need to bring this up with father.
I will be back at 4PM CST!
- Mike N. III
ARambler
02-07-2011, 13:16
I think you are a pretty good influence on whiteblaze without the donation. Forgive the small minds that try to look good by degrading others. I just don't try to look good;)
It will be hard to keep the family name out of the press if it is on the name of one of the AT's finest shelters, but I don't think it is needed now, and I don't think you have to prove yourself to this bunch.
I would look into the financial needs of the Iron Masters Mansion (as a hostel) and the AT museum in Pine Grove Furnace.
Rambler
Majortrauma
02-07-2011, 13:16
He likes astronomy, computers, cats, nature and walking/hiking. His trail name is "Perfection" and he hasn't even hiked any portion of the AT?
Maybe he should save the 50K for the addition to the AT Hall of Fame museum they'll need just for him.
This HAS to be a practical joke.
mweinstone
02-07-2011, 13:17
please wake up moderators. everybody hit the mark this post botton....now!
mweinstone
02-07-2011, 13:19
just pm'd the mods. your in truuuublllle! oooh....
Cookerhiker
02-07-2011, 13:30
Answering in the hypothetical abstract: if someone asked me where/how to donate $50 K to the AT knowing their interest was in land protection, I'd recommend meeting with ATC management - Dave Startzell, Royce Gibson, and Bob Almand (ATC Chair). It is entirely understandable that a gift of this magnitude warrants attention at the senior management level. A well-planned meeting will best achieve the donor's objective by informing him/her of the options and considerations.
The ATC knows which portions of the Trail Corridor are the most threatened and can assist the donor in determining what organization (local club, land trust, etc) is the most effective means for achieving everyone's goal. I'd say there's an element of strategizing here too. You'd want to keep publicity nil so that if we're talking about land acquisition, the seller doesn't perceive ATC having a windfall to spend. In other words, discretion is advisory. I've seen this with the Nature Conservancy when their so-called "conservation buyers" are kept anonymous until deals are consumated.
And you may want to think about leveraging e.g. using the pledge as a challenge grant to see if others are willing to match.
I'm sure there's other considerations as well. The ATC can guide you through this.
This guy is a troll. If you were going to donate $50,000 you research it yourself. You don't go on a message board asking people who you should donate it to. Especially if you value your privacy like Mike N the third says he does. And why donate money towards a trail you don't seem to like?
This guy is a troll. And why donate money towards a trail you don't seem to like?
Aint a troll, more like a tool
I'd buy $50,000 worth of land adjoining the AT corridor and not give it to anybody.
flemdawg1
02-07-2011, 13:35
just pm'd the mods. your in truuuublllle! oooh....
Shhhh, c'mon man you gotta suck up more if you want some of that cheddar.
OK, thread is closing down.
Note to Wisconsinhiker: If you want to have serious discussions, you can post in the Straight Forward forum. All off-topic posts will be deleted.
To the rest of you: No one is forcing you to either read or post on any subjects whatsoever. Exercise some self-restraint, why don't you? If someone keeps causing you heartburn, put them on Ignore.
I'm at work and am not thrilled about using my lunch break dealing with this nonsense.