Charitable Giving

Capitol Christmas Tree, Charitable Giving, Environmental Protection, Essays, Video / 21.11.2017

By his own admission, Montana sawyer, Pete Tallmadge thought surely someone else would be a  better choice for the job. “When Kirsten Kaiser the 3 Rivers District Ranger called and asked if I would consider being the sawyer for the 2017 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, I just about said ‘no’,” he told a crowd of neighbors, friends and family near his home in Troy, Montana. “To tell you the truth, I immediately thought of 3 or 4 other sawyers that she should call instead.” But the tall gentle man rose...

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Capitol Christmas Tree, Charitable Giving, Joy To America, Special Events, U.S. Forest Service / 02.10.2017

Every year the U.S. Forest Service is charged with delivering an 80-foot evergreen tree to the American people to serve as the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. Chosen from a national forest somewhere in country the tree, commonly called the People's Tree is a symbol of our great national heritage of environmental conservation and preservation. For the past three years it has been my piviledge and honor to accompany the People's tree from the site of its harvest across the country to where it is delivered to the grounds of...

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#ORSummer, Charitable Giving, National Parks, philanthropy / 30.07.2017

The most exciting thing I saw this year at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market was an old fashioned outhouse. That’s right. Surrounded by aisle after aisle of the latest in camping equipment, technical clothing, action footwear and flashy accessories, this sturdy wooden structure with a crescent moon carved into its door, set my mind and heart racing as I imagined all that it might accomplish. In a prominent spot at the Outdoor Research booth this no-tech privy was a display that symbolized the company’s efforts to do good things...

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Capitol Christmas Tree, Charitable Giving, On Assignment / 23.11.2015

The first significant snowfall of the year was apparent as my plane touched down on the tarmac of O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. Once again I had dodged the weather. Having fallen the day before I was happy to see the ice and snow melting in the sunshine of a clear afternoon that would not delay my return flight home to Madison, Wisconsin. After almost four weeks on the road and more than 6,000 miles of travel this was just one of the many wonderful things in my...

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Capitol Christmas Tree, Charitable Giving, On Assignment / 18.11.2015

Chillicothe Ohio, population 21,899, likely drew the most inspiring crowd we’ve seen so far. The Capitol Christmas Tree cruised to stop in front of Mount Logan Elementary School. To the sheer delight of several hundred children the massive semi-truck arrived driven by a man in a bright red coat that bore an uncanny resemblance to Santa Claus. The moment John Schank, 2014 Alaska Truck Driver of the Year, descended the steps of his customized Kenworth big-rig the kids swarmed around to get their pictures taken with him and...

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Adventure Activism, An American Ascent, Book Tour, Charitable Giving, Diversity, Kids in Nature, National Parks, Special Events, The Adventure Gap / 21.10.2015

For some reason I couldn’t get the song to play. After having spent hours getting the introduction just right I’d be damned if I was going to let the opening frames of this film presentation go without music. Trying not to panic I simply reconfigured the audio file from .AIFF to .MP3 and it played flawlessly. Jake Shimabukuro’s tune Dragon flowed in perfect sync with the animated text and the logos of the Madison-based nonprofit groups this screening of An American Ascent aimed to support. With a free...

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