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Know Before You Go, vol. 9
News To Use & Helpful Info about YOUR Smokies!
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A Big Shout-Out to Our Friends
We are so thankful to the more than 350 donors who gave more than $51,000 in response to our 2010
end-of-year appeal. The generosity of those who are passionate about the preservation and protection of the Smokies is simply amazing.
Throughout 2011, we will continue to seek support for our purchase of 20 acres of land in Pittman Center, Tennessee surrounded on 3 sides by Great Smoky Mountains National Park adjacent to the Soak Ash Creek Wetlands. (Read More)
Friends of the Smokies is now working to transfer the 9.51-acre undeveloped parcel to park ownership as soon as possible. Friends and the park are still assessing potential uses for the other tract, which includes 10.32 acres and a substantial house. Possibilities include using the facility to host park staff and visiting researchers and/or to support the operations of Friends or other park partner groups.
The park's beauty and biodiversity remain constant with Friends of the Smokies' help. The Soak Ash Creek Wetlands (which at 27 acres is one of the largest wetland areas in our national park) are foraging grounds for black bears and are a rich habitat for birds (including 5 species on the US Fish & Wildlife Service's 2008 list of Birds of Conservation Concern: Peregrine falcon, Kentucky warbler, cerulean warbler, wood thrush, and worm-eating warbler) and native plant species.
Since 1993, the park's many, many Friends have funded programs that enhance the park's special places and the life within them, but you can give today to be a part of this rare opportunity to increase the size of Great Smoky Mountains National Park!
For more information, contact Development Director Sarah Weeks.
 | | Worm-eating warbler by Charlie Muise |
Thank YOU for being a Friend of the Smokies!
Soak Ash Creek
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 | | Billy Carroll, SmartBank's President & CEO with Jim Hart, President of Friends of the Smokies, and Terry Maddox, Executive Director of the Great Smoky Mountains Association |
Pigeon Forge, TN - January 21, 2011 - Friends of the Smokies thanks SmartBank, its associates, and its customers for $6,200+ in contributions we received today via their innovative SmartGreen checking account program.
In the words of SmartBank's Assistant Vice President Kelley Fowler, "We are very excited about this year's donation as it has more than doubled over last year! With another year under our belt promoting SmartGreen, we've been able to add quite a few new SmartGreen account holders. Naturally, this has increased usage with the SmartGreen debit card which is the primary reason for the increase in donation. This is the way it works.
The SmartGreen account is a green-friendly, paperless account designed so that an equal donation is made to both Great Smoky Mountains Association and Friends of the Smokies every time a SmartBank account holder uses their SmartGreen debit card for signature-based transactions. In addition to the donations accumulated through debit card usage, SmartBank clients have the option to make additional contributions to GSMA and/or Friends of the Smokies through automatic deduction from their SmartGreen account. When we launched the SmartGreen Account, all of our associates at SmartBank switched their account to the SmartGreen account in support of this program and most make additional contributions to both organizations through automatic deduction. When we created SmartGreen, we wanted to do something special that would encourage environmental awareness as well as benefit the organizations that work so hard to help promote, maintain and protect our mountains. The donations have the potential to grow substantially as the Bank grows, and this is something we considered when we created SmartGreen. We wanted to cultivate something that had the ability to gain momentum over the years and would truly impact our beautiful Park." Learn more on SmartBank's Facebook page or on their website at www.SmartBank.net. In just two years, the combined donations to Friends of the Smokies from the SmartGreen account donations = $9,012.30 Back to top
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Hype
 | | Courtesy of Samuel Hobbs |
Your daily drive can preserve & protect Great Smoky Mountains National Park- learn more on our website.
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Winter Happenings
 | Snow Covered Road in Smokies
by Sam Hobbs |
Bundle up & head out to these great events-
Winter Heritage Festival in Townsend, TN from February 3rd thru 6th (co-sponsored by Friends of the Smokies and the Great Smoky Mountains Association.)
Rose Glen Literary Festival at Walters State Community College on Saturday, February 26th. (You can pick up a copy of Laura Long's book A Beautiful View with proceeds to benefit Friends of the Smokies.)
Save the date for these upcoming events-
- April 27-May 1, 2011- The 60th Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage (Gatlinburg, TN)
- May 13-15, 2011- (Townsend, TN) Troutfest
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Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an independent 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization which helps preserve and protect Great Smoky Mountains National Park by raising funds and awareness and providing volunteers for needed projects.
Since 1993, Friends of the Smokies has raised more than $31 million to help support educational programs, historic preservation projects, wildlife protection, and natural and resource conservation in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
View our 2011 Park Support list on our website.
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