Tuesday, August 3, 2010

ONLINE VOTERS NEEDED TO SECURE $100,000 IN GRANT FUNDING

Grand Teton National Park Foundation urges park enthusiasts to vote for Grand Teton National Park throughout August in the America is Your Park campaign. 

Online voting for America is Your Park, a campaign sponsored by Coca-Cola to encourage Americans to explore their local national and state parks, is underway.  Grand Teton National Park Foundation, the park’s primary fundraising partner, encourages people to vote for Grand Teton National Park and help win a $100,000 grant to support park resources and programs.

“Coca- Cola has helped parks through their generous support of trail restoration and many other worthwhile projects,” Grand Teton National Park Foundation’s President Leslie Mattson said.  “Our country has many amazing parks so we need our friends to promote Grand Teton.  It’s easy; you just have to click a button.”

An online voting center has been created to let individuals cast a vote for their favorite park.  The national or state park that receives the most votes by the end of August wins the grant, which is made possible by Coca-Cola’s Live Positively initiative.  No sign up or registration is necessary to participate, and people can vote an unlimited number of times until the close of the contest on August 31.

To vote, visit www.livepositively.com/#/americasparks. Click the red Vote For Your Park button.  Type Grand Teton National Park into the Search box in the upper left corner, and hit the Enter key.  Click on the red Vote button next to Grand Teton.

In addition, for every vote cast, Coca-Cola will also donate $1 to the National Park Foundation up to a total of $200,000.  The National Park Foundation supports all national park units across the system.

Mattson said this grant funding would have a tremendous impact on Grand Teton and provide lasting benefits for trails or other recreational components of the park. 

“Grand Teton is our local playground, but it also draws millions of visitors every year, providing enormous economic benefits to our town.  Your vote could be the one that brings $100,000 to this beautiful park,” Mattson said, “and, you won’t personally have to spend a dime.”