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National Park Service
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Office of Public Affairs 202-208-6843 phone 202-219-0910 fax |
National Park Service News
Release
For
Immediate Release:
Contact: Joan Moody (DOI) 202-208-6416
Elaine
Sevy (NPS) 202-208-6843
(
Award to TelecomPioneers
for the organization’s continuing commitment to improving the national
park
experience for visitors with disabilities.
Take Pride is part of President Bush’s USA Freedom
Corps,
dedicated to fostering a culture of service to others.
TelecomPioneers, formerly the Telephone Pioneers of America, is the
largest industry related
volunteer organization in the world, made up of
employees.
“I am
delighted to renew this unique and important partnership with TelecomPioneers,” Norton said.
“It is also
with great pleasure that I present TelecomPioneers
with the Take Pride in
for
their dedication and commitment to working with the National Park Service to
help enhance the
enjoyment
of our park visitors with disabilities.”
The TelecomPioneers and the National Park Service have shared a
long-standing partnership for
10 years,
which has saved the NPS and the American public hundreds of
thousands of dollars
and has
enhanced the level of visitor enjoyment for those with disabilities. Today’s award
ceremony
celebrating this successful partnership also heralded in another decade
long-commitment between both organizations through the signing of a new
Memorandum of
Understanding.
“The
National Park Service is committed to providing improved accessibility to our
visitors with
disabilities,” said NPS Director Fran Mainella. “We sincerely thank the TelecomPioneers
for their
outstanding contributions over the years, which have taken us a long way
toward fulfilling that goal.
We still
have much to do, and we look forward to extending this partnership another decade,
which
will
help provide the nation’s millions of citizens with disabilities the chance to
come to our national
parks and
be able to experience the same opportunities afforded other citizens.”
Since 1990, over 100
projects in more than 100 National Parks have been completed. Projects
included the donation of equipment, providing listening
devices for visitors with hearing impairments,
Braille and large print
publications for blind and visually limited visitors, telecommunication devices
for
deaf visitors and audio recordings of interpretive
information for blind individuals. Other
efforts have
included major
construction projects involving large numbers of volunteers working weekends under
the
supervision of NPS employees to complete efforts such as the
1.5-mile Limberlost Trail, a wheelchair
accessible trail in Shenandoah National Park (VA), a similar
trail in
(WY,
MT, ID), and an accessible boardwalk trail of more than 1,000 feet in Biscayne
National Park (FL).
“I’m very pleased to accept
this award on behalf of our many dedicated volunteers, the current employees
and retirees of the telecommunications industry, who
work so hard to improve the quality of life for others,”
said James Gadd, TelecomPioneers Executive Director. “I’m also proud to announce that the
TelecomPioneers Board of Directors has voted to renew the longstanding
partnership we have had with
the National Park Service, enabling our Pioneers to
continue volunteering their time and talents to
providing access, and enriching and enjoyable experiences in
our National Parks for those with
disabilities.”
Supported
by numerous private associations and organizations, Take Pride in
partnership that aims to inspire a new generation of volunteers to put their
love of country to work to
improve
our national parks, wildlife refuges, public lands, cultural and historic
sites, playgrounds and
other
recreation areas.
Secretary Norton launched
the Take Pride in
Club. On June 27,Norton named
Marti Allbright, former chief deputy attorney general
of
as the director.
For additional
information, go to www.takepride.gov.
-DOI-