The second annual America is Your Park campaign is part of the Coca-Cola Live Positively initiative, which visited San Francisco yesterday. Along with Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, the company announced that it would be giving the city’s Parks Trust $250,000.
The money will be divided into a variety of programs and parks. About $100,000 will be invested into a new, mobile park. The van will travel the city with a variety of portable recreation equipment, for programs including climbing, kayaking, mountain biking, and skateboarding. Another $100,000 will go to create a new trail in Golden Gate Park, and the final $50,000 will be split between park improvement and a new parks organization.
Coca-Cola’s Live Positively initiatives focus on a variety of local, healthy, or environmentally friendly issues. But during the next two months, other cities will have the opportunity to secure up to $100,000 in funding for their own parks, as part of the America Is Your Park campaign.
This summer, people can go to LivePositvely.com to help their favorite national, state or local park with just the click of a button. The three parks that receive the most votes by September 6, 2011, will be awarded recreation grants in the following amounts: First Place – $100,000; Second Place – $50,000; and, Third Place – $25,000. These grants will help restore, rebuild or enhance recreation areas in parks where people can play and be active.
“Last year, millions of Americans showed their passion for their favorite parks by voting, so this year we’ve raised the stakes – more parks can win and there are more ways to vote,” said L. Celeste Bottorff, Vice President, Living Well, Coca-Cola North America. “We’re asking people to be „digital‟ by voting online for their favorite park and then get „physical‟ by getting out and having fun with us this summer.”
The campaign also encourages people to attend active healthy living events at local parks in select cities this summer. Additionally, people can watch, download and share fitness-in-the-park videos from LivePositively.com featuring fitness icon Jake Steinfeld, founder of “Body By Jake.”
Last year, thanks to more than 1.6 million votes cast by its supporters, Bear Head Lake State Park in Ely, Minnesota, was named “America’s Favorite Park.” The park is using the recreation grant to build a new warming hut to ensure safety and comfort for winter sports enthusiasts all season long.
For more than 40 years, Coca-Cola has supported America’s parks through partnerships with individual parks and national park organizations. The Company has donated more than $14 million for restoration and renovation of our country’s parks, including the restoration of more than 260 miles of “Active Trails” for families to hike and explore, and development of the first sustainable recycling program at The National Mall, a national park in the heart of Washington, D.C. Most recently, Coca-Cola donated $1 million to The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation’s Peopling of America® Center, a new initiative that will tell the story of the immigration experience in America.