American Expresses Donates ‘$550,000’ to S.C.A For Conducting ‘Find Your Park Movement’


08/23/2015

The foundation of American Expresses extends monetary grant to aid the S.C.A for preserving more than “200,000 acres” of public parks.


Dailycsr.com – 17 August 2015 – Shouldering the responsibility of conserving United States’ parks across the nation, the American Express has extended its hands in partnership with Student Conservation Association, shortly known as S.C.A. Moreover, the former has released a grant of “$550,000” for this very purpose. With the help of this generous donation, the S.C.A is to organise “a series of Find Your Park volunteer events”.
 
The said event will mostly take place throughout the coming year on “national days of service” which occur on the 11th of September celebrated as “National Day of Service and Remembrance”, on the 11th of November as the “Veteran’s Day”, on the 18th of January as the “Martin Luther King Jr. Day”, on 22nd of April as the “Earth Day” and on the 6th of June as the “National Trails Day”.
 
These events are being organised to commemorate the centennial of the “National Park Service” in 2016. The celebration is likely to bring together “more than 6,400 community members” who will be volunteering “more than 25,000 hours” in an attempt to revitalise and conserve “200,000 acres of public land” including green areas of Seattle, Chicago, Washington D.C, San Francisco and New York. In fact, the donation made by American Express is a complementary one besides the “$5 million national commitment” made by the “American Express Foundation” whereby it will be promoting to children the need to combine play and learning sessions with outdoor service work.
 
The emphasis of working outdoor will particularly point towards “the Department of the Interior’s goal of supporting one million volunteers annually on public lands”. Moreover, it will also open up “employment opportunities for young adults and veterans” of the 21st century “Conservation Service Corps”. There are also plans of recruiting new volunteers in the coming year as centennial will mark a befitting occasion for this very purpose. Jonathan B. Jarvis, the director of the “National Park Service” said:
“Volunteers play an essential role in the National Park Service's mission to share this nation's special places with the American people. Engaging our volunteers in the Find Your Park movement and inviting new volunteers to join us is a key priority for the National Park Service's Centennial, and we appreciate American Express for their significant support to boost our volunteer network in service to parks.”
 
In fact, the president of American Express Foundation, Timothy J. McClimon informs:
"American Express has cultivated community service and civic engagement programs throughout its 165-year history. National parks are critical to our communities and American heritage, and we are proud to lead an effort to help develop the next generation of park conservation leaders and stewards to sustain our parks for the next hundred years."
 
S.C.A has been involved in leading people, inspiring them to conserve park and take up their stewardship. In Jaime Berman Matyas or the president of S.C.A’s words:
“For nearly sixty years, SCA and the National Park Service have provided America’s young people with transformational service opportunities that protect our parks and empower our youth as the next generation of conservation leaders. With the generous support of American Express, SCA will now expand its volunteer engagement to support next year’s centennial and the Find Your Park movement.”





References:
www.BusinessWire.com