Mad River Glen Shareholder Match Announced
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The Preserve Our Paradise campaign is very excited to announce the launch of a special matching funds initiative for all Mad River Glen Shareholders. Every shareholder who makes a new gift of $500 or more by Green and Gold Weekend 2018
will have their gift doubled!
The campaign has already gained commitments for over $150,000 in matching funds in support of this initiative, thanks to the generosity of a number of anonymous donors.
Our goal is to achieve 100% participation from all MRG shareholders during the campaign. A pledge or gift of $500 is suggested, but every gift will help us achieve our goals, regardless of size. Gifts can be one-time gifts or four-year pledges, and can also be made in the name of another shareholder, such as a family member.
All shareholders should check their mailboxes
in the next few days for a mailing that explains the initiative and gives an update on the campaign. The mailing includes a donation form that can be returned to the Stark Mountain Foundation, but
making your donation online
is quicker and helps keep our campaign overhead down. To learn more about the benefits of becoming a shareholder, visit
www.madriverglen.com/buy-a-co-op-share
.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank to all Mad River Glen’s shareholders, who have demonstrated their commitment to the mountain in the past, and we are confident they will once again step up to help secure the future of this very special place!
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Work funded by the campaign proceeds near the famous MRG snowmaking "puddle." The new excavator is in the process of replacing a major culvert. Work will soon start on the pump house to install a new high-pressure snowmaking pump.
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Your donations at work on the mountain!
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It’s proving to be a busy off-season at Mad River Glen for campaign projects, as the pace of work funded by your donations starts to really ramp up and make an impact! The latest mountain equipment to be funded by the campaign is a new-to-us
excavator
, which will replace an old and increasingly unreliable machine. The new excavator didn’t stay idle for long, as in late April, with snow still on the ground, the mountain received an entire truckload of culverts funded by your donations. The truck had barely left before MRG’s mountain staff was hard at work installing new culverts that will greatly assist with mountain drainage issues, helping us to operate with less natural snow. Our
new dump truck
(nicknamed "Big Dump") is also an invaluable asset for this project, as is the new Aebi mower in forklift mode, both items already funded by the campaign.
No sooner had the mountain closed for the season than the campaign-funded
trail crew
went to work, clearing overhanging branches that have been gradually encroaching on our trails over the course of many years. The crew was able to use the groomer to expedite their work, and reported that removing branches without the leaves on them was much quicker. This work is long overdue and our skiers will be very happy with the results next winter!
A new
high-pressure snowmaking pump
is being manufactured right now and will be installed this summer, with work on the pumphouse commencing shortly. The pump will increase the efficiency and speed of our snow guns, and also enable eventual restoration of snowmaking to the 2,300 foot elevation level near Kay's grove above the Birdcage. This section of snowmaking coverage has been out of service for many years due to inadequate pressure delivery from the old pump. A contract has been awarded for a new deck and energy-efficient entrance to the
Birdcage
, with construction to start mid-summer. We’ll have updates on this exciting project in our next issue!
Some of these projects aren’t particularly sexy or spectacular, but they are nuts and bolts improvements that will tangibly impact mountain operations and the skiing experience in coming years. We gratefully thank all of our generous donors that have made this work possible, but there’s a lot more work to be done and our largest projects are still ahead of us, so if you haven’t donated already, now is the time to step up!
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“We’ve needed a dump truck and excavator for quite some time and we are so grateful to have them. It is enabling us to do so much up on the hill and making us more efficient too. I never would have imagined we would be able to acquire these tools! Thanks to the campaign for making it possible.”
- Nate Martin, Mountain Operations Manager
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Over the course of the campaign to date, 41 donors have donated nearly $40,000 in tribute gifts. Some of these gifts are in memory of a deceased family member, friend, or prominent member of the Mad River Glen community, while others are in honor of living individuals, or institutions such as the Ski Patrol. Individuals who have been recognized include Roland Palmedo, Ryan Hawks, George Neil, and Ken Quackenbush. In addition, the campaign has created a wide variety of
Trailblazer Gift Opportunities
to recognize significant gifts, and these can also be in honor of an individual or institution.
During the very successful campaign to preserve the Single Chair, many tribute gifts were made, such as this chair plaque to honor the legendary "Tex" Thompson, who ran the Basebox grill for many years. A tribute gift can be a meaningful and lasting way to recognize someone you love or respect, and we hope you’ll consider such a gift if you haven’t already. Thank you for your support and consideration!
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The campaign has raised a total of $3,368,088 in gifts and pledges as of May 1, putting us more than halfway to our goal of $6.5 million! This amount has been raised from a total of 462 generous donors. The size of the gifts range from $250,000, to a recently received gift of $1 from seven-year-old Jacey Marchand. Thanks Jacey for your support of the Preserve Our Paradise campaign! Every gift, regardless of size, helps get us closer to our ambitious goal!
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SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN TODAY AT:
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Learn More about the Stark Mountain Foundation
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As some of you may know, the nonprofit Stark Mountain Foundation (SMF) is Mad River Glen’s fiscal partner in the Preserve Our Paradise Campaign. SMF’s 501(c)(3) status enables contributions to the campaign to be tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. But SMF is more than just the campaign. For example, now that hiking season is upon us, you might be interested to know that the Stark Mountain Foundation has an ongoing partnership with the Green Mountain Club. SMF funded a rebuild of the Stark’s Nest, which is open year-round for hikers. SMF also helped develop a
network of hiking trails
on General Stark Mountain, one of which has been added as an official side trail to the Long Trail. To learn more about SMF and its mission to preserve and protect the environment and ecosystem of General Stark Mountain, visit
www.starkmountain.org
.
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VOLUNTEERS WANTED FOR WEBSITE PRODUCTION, GRAPHIC DESIGN, COMMUNICATIONS, ETC.
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Upcoming MRG & Campaign Events
May 24
General Stark's Pub open for summer, Thursday-Saturday
June 16
Co-op Board of Trustees Meeting, 8 am
July 4
Join the Mad River contingent at Warren's famous Fourth of July parade! 10 am
July 6
The Mad River Glen General Store will be open Friday evenings in July & August, 4-8 pm
August 4
MRG Mountain Work Day, 9 am
August 11
MRG Mountain Work Day, 9 am
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Your complete campaign resource:
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Campaign Cabinet
Chairs:
Annika Holtan, Eric Palola
Members at Large:
Lars Bruns, Bob Dillon, Jim Elkind, Meg Hourihan, Amory Hunnewell, Betsy Jondro, Karen Lloyd, Brandi Myers, John Nesbett, Pamela Nesbett, Penny Parson, Meg Schultz, Greg Scott, Debra Steines, John Tobin, Brooks Ware
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Look for our next newsletter in July!
Stay connected with the campaign on social media:
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