Celebrating 90 Years—Countless Friends PRESERVING THE NATURAL BEAUTY AND WILDNESS OF THE WISSAHICKON VALLEY FOR NINETY YEARS. FALL 2014 • VOLUME 23 • NUMBER 3 Meet You at Valley Green! Coverage of our 90th Anniversary on pp. 4, 8, 10, 11. FROMthePRESIDENT 8708 Germantown Avenue The Friends of the Wissahickon is celebrating our 90th Philadelphia, PA 19118-2717 Anniversary this year, and while there is much to celebrate, Phone: (215) 247-0417 Tthis anniversary year also finds us commencing our second 90 E-mail:
[email protected] years with a multi-pronged, five-year strategic plan for growth in our Website: www.fow.org reach, our visibility, and our stewardship in the Wissahickon Valley. The mission of the Friends of the Wissahickon While the early years of FOW saw much work done in preserving is to preserve the natural beauty and the park and the completion of projects like the restoration of Valley wildness of the Wissahickon Valley and Green Inn, current activities are on a much larger scale. The most stimulate public interest therein. visible of these is our Sustainable Trails Initiative, in which, through the combined efforts of our great staff, membership, funders, and OFFICERS board members, we are already halfway through a five-year, $10 Will Whetzel, President million budget plan to restore and/or rebuild 50 miles of trails in the Liz Werthan, Vice President, Advocacy Heidi Grunwald, Vice President, Finance Wissahickon Valley. The exclamation point for our anniversary year Robert Harries, Vice President, Governance will be our Gala celebration event on October 25, which will showcase the restorations and Jeff Harbison, Treasurer improvements made to Valley Green Inn over the past year.