Parklands Benefit Fair Raises $14,000
Forgoing the traditional walk-a-thon at its annual March for Parks--Head for the Hills fund-raiser, the Santa Monica Mountains Parklands Assn. tried a new idea and it paid off.
“We raised over $14,000,” said Peter Heumann, volunteer chairman of the event.
More than 150 parks support groups nationwide participated in March for Parks fund-raisers at the end of April, Heumann said, but according to officials none raised as much as the Santa Monica Parklands group.
The money will be used to pay for bus transportation and professional naturalists, who will lead outdoor education programs for local and inner-city children, instructing them on everything from ornithology to wildflowers of California.
In the past, walking or running fund-raising events--where participants generally take pledges from friends and collect later--have proved enormously complicated to coordinate, Heumann said. So this year the group hit on the idea of a fair and raised more money more simply, through everything from hayrides to a petting zoo to corporate sponsorship at the April 17 gathering.
About 3,500 parks supporters turned out for the fun at Paramount Ranch in Agoura Hills, part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation area.
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