[pct-l] Raise money to protect the PCT through your thru or section hike

[Jeramy Vallianos]

  Hello all class of '09ers.  Hope all is going well with the planning and
the excitement is building.  I'm writing to see if anyone of this year's
class would be interested in continuing a project that my girlfriend and I
founded for our thru-hike last year.  We made our hike into a walk-a-thon
style fundraiser to support the PCTA's land purchase program, The Pacific
Forest Trust who have purchased over 5,000 acres along the trail in the
Cascade-Siskiyou Nat. Monument, and Cascadia Ecosystem Advocates, a
grassroots pacific northwest environmental group. Last year we were able to
raise a good chunk of money and awareness toward protecting the PCT and
other at-risk landscapes on the west.  It's pretty simple to join this
effort, we have a website set up: www.walkforwild.org along with flyers and
some letter forms that can be updated and edited and sent out to your
contacts and local community.  Anyone who wants to participate we'll put
your photo and bio (if you would like) up on the website as this years class
of hikers.  There is a blog set up as well that you can update with journals
and photos of your experiences along the trail.
  The fundraising aspect involves emailing and/or writing your friends,
family members, contacts, etc, and letting them know about your hike and
involvement in the conservation project.  It also can involve fundraising in
person with your local business and community members and asking them to
sponsor you.  It's up to you how far you want to go with it.  Last year we
collected donations as lump sums on the website and as per-mile pledges in
person.
  We had a great experience with this last year, the folks who sponsored us
got very into the updates and photos that we would send out and we felt that
it was a good way to give back to organizations that protect and maintain
the integrity of the trail while we hike it.  If a bunch of thru-hikers take
to this every year it can be a great way to preserve the trail and other
threatened lands.  There can also be perks as some businesses let us by our
food at wholesale and we were given gear by an outdoor company.
  If anyone is interested in participating or wants more info send me an
email at jeramyvallianos at gmail.com and check out the website
www.walkforwild.org. I can send out more information and will also work on
getting some sponsor companies and gear.
  Thanks for taking the time to consider this, hope to see you all at the
kickoff and the portland pct festival in March this year.  Jeramy