WAYNESVILLE – Friends of the Smokies will host the 19th Annual Friends Across the Mountains Telethon to benefit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Thursday, Aug. 15. The event has a long history as the only telethon for a national park, and has raised over $2.5 million dollars.
“This broadcast provides a great chance to learn more about the tremendous national resource that’s right in our own backyard,” said Friends of the Smokies President Jim Hart. “We are very thankful for the generous financial support that viewers provide each year to help the park.”
This year’s broadcast will take place from 7-8p.m. on WLOS-TV Channel 13 in Asheville and WBIR-TV Channel 10 in Knoxville. The 19th Annual telethon is generously sponsored by Dollywood, Mast General Store, and Pilot Flying J, and SmartBank.
Viewers of the Telethon will see many of the projects for which Friends of the Smokies has promised to provide for in 2013. More than $1.1 million will go to support education, conservation, recreation, and historic preservation in the park. Current projects include continued rehabilitation of the Chimney Tops Trail by the Trails Forever crew, ongoing suppression of the hemlock woolly adelgid, and funding for Parks as Classrooms environmental education programs for more than 18,000 students.
Friends of the Smokies is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports the National Park Service in its mission to preserve and protect Great Smoky Mountains National Park by raising funds and public awareness, and providing volunteers for needed projects.
Individuals and business owners have three different ways to make a gift. They can make a donation online today at www.friendsofthesmokies.org, they can call Friends’ toll free telethon hotline at 877-884-6867 during the Friends Across the Mountains broadcast and make a pledge over the phone, or they can call Friends of the Smokies and ask for a donation form to be mailed to them.
Info: Waynesville office (828) 452-0720 or (800) 845-5665.
– Friends of the Smokies
