Support The Durham Parks Foundation on #GivingTuesday

Happy Thanksgiving from the Durham Parks Foundation!

The Durham Parks Foundation is grateful to our city and county government departments that maintain and create programs for over 70 parks, trails, greenways and recreation centers in Durham. They ensure we have safe, innovative, fun spaces to #PlayMore!

You may say: Our taxes support these efforts - so why do we need a parks foundation, anyway!?

Well, because there are parks systems, and then there are Parks Systems! Those that enhance the day to day infrastructure of how we live, often without our notice. Those that create safe and vibrant spaces that we all feel like we belong to. Those that become a reason why we live where we do, in a community connected by green spaces and healthy activity.

As is true of many municipal departments, the staff who steward our parks system are constrained by many asterisks: Half-penny tax money can only be used on maintenance and infrastructure.Federal dollars requested this year are for projects 3 years down the line. The really cool and useful thing you found for your neighborhood park is outside the budget, approved last year, for the improvements. And so on.

Your Durham Parks Foundation changes the game by creating new ways for residents to influence and advocate for the kinds of parks we need, and by providing the resources for our incredible parks staff to exercise their expertise and creativity to bring these places to life. Want to know more? Sign up for the Durham Parks Foundation newsletter to learn how your parks make Durham a better place for us all to #PlayMore. As part of our inaugural Year-End giving campaign, we’ll be sharing stories that highlight the scope of Durham’s parks system. You’ll learn how our parks promote social justice, community health, arts & culture, animal welfare, the environment & wildlife, and education.

As we approach this Thanksgiving and #GivingTuesday, we have 2 more favors to ask (we are as greedy as we are thankful for you!)

1. Become an inaugural member of the Durham Parks Foundation by making a financial contribution today.
2. #OptOutside this Black Friday! Visit your favorite park or trail and snap a #ParkPix. Share it with us on Facebook (DurhamParksFoundation) or Twitter (@durhamparksfound), and tag it with #ParkPix, #WhereDoYouPark and #PlayMore. 

Oh - and don’t forget to thank your parks and recreation staff for all they do to keep these spaces available for all residents of Durham!