Press | Emerald City Journal

Pacific Northwest Rangers Thrilled About New Million Dollar Contribution to Washington’s National Park Fund

Published on April 4, 2018

Washington's National Park Fund

Funds to Support Critical Technologies to Improve Safety of Park Rangers; and Infrastructure for Hundreds of Volunteers

Seattle, WA — April 4, 2018— Washington’s National Park Fund (WNPF), the official philanthropic partner for Mount Rainier, North Cascades and Olympic National Parks, today announced that a private contributor has donated $1 million to the organization. The generous donation is an estate gift from a Washington national parks lover, Bette Wallace, to ensure the long-term livelihood of these beautiful places. The gift, given via the Elizabeth Ruth Wallace Living Trust, is being split evenly between the three national parks that WNPF supports. It has rangers across the state thrilled because U.S. national parks typically operate on tight budgets and Washington’s national parks are no different.

Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park plan to combine their funds for, among other things, the purchase and establishment of a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system that allows dispatch operators to better monitor rangers working in the wilderness. Park employees currently carry Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) and with the new CAD system, dispatch operators will be able to see the whereabouts of all park employees on one display. This greatly improves employee safety and response times within the park during regular and emergency operations. Mount Rainier National Park, for example, has more than 275 full-time and part-time employees (not counting volunteers).

North Cascades National Park will use the new funding to, among other things, support much-needed infrastructure improvements for the hundreds of volunteers who serve the park through the visitor center, youth and education programs, campground hosting, search and rescue, maintenance, and science inventory and monitoring.

“This funding comes at a pivotal time for Washington’s three largest national parks,” said Sarah Creachbaum, superintendent at Olympic National Park. “Our country’s national parks have experienced many financial challenges in recent years and there is a significant maintenance backlog. This wonderful donation via WNPF enables us to invest in much-needed safety technology that can quite literally save lives in Washington for years to come.”

As most outdoorspeople know, this past year has been especially challenging for national parks as federal funding has decreased. WNPF augments federal funding enabling important programs in the 1,660,000 acres of national parks in Washington State to take place. This gift is the largest in the organization’s history.

Washington’s National Park Fund has awarded nearly $4 million to Mount Rainier, North Cascades and Olympic National Parks over the past few years. Funds fill critical gaps in science and research, volunteerism and stewardship, trail maintenance, improving visitors’ experiences, search and rescue, and youth and family programs. Funded projects are carefully and thoughtfully selected by park leadership then shared with Washington’s National Park Fund.

“We are so grateful for the lovely and exceptionally generous gift from the Elizabeth Ruth Wallace Living Trust,” said Laurie Ward, executive director of WNPF. “We wish Bette was still here so the park rangers and I could personally show her all of the significant park infrastructure enabled by her major gift. Not only will it provide immediate vital support to Washington’s national parks, it ushers in a new level giving for WNPF. With so much passion for Mount Rainier, North Cascades and Olympic National Parks, we foresee that this will be the first of many gifts at this level.”

More About Bette Wallace
Bette Wallace lived a life full of adventure. She traveled the world, skied, played golf, and in her last years had a special relationship with the squirrels outside her back door. She was born in 1924, grew up in Washington State and was a 1942 graduate of Edmonds High School. Between 1942 and 1949, she worked as a civilian employee for the U.S. Army in Seattle, Alaska and Tokyo. Shortly after her return, she met Bryan Walker Wallace, also a Washington native, whom she married in 1950 in San Francisco. They lived most of their married lives in Mountain View, CA, but she always considered Washington her home and visited often. With most of her family living in Washington, she knew it was special place and that many of her family enjoyed the state’s National Parks.

“On behalf of her trust it was our family’s honor to make this donation on her behalf to the Washington’s National Park Fund knowing it will be used for many projects including a combination of saving lives and supporting volunteer infrastructure in the parks,” said Cheri Ryan, Bette Wallace’s niece and trustee of her estate.

About Washington’s National Park Fund
Washington’s National Park Fund (WNPF) is the official philanthropic partner of Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Olympic National Parks, which span more than 1.6 million acres of the Evergreen state. Annually, WNPF allocates monies to more than 75 otherwise unfunded projects with the goal of deepening the public’s love for, understanding of, and experiences in Washington’s National Parks. Get involved at www.wnpf.org

Sharon Bush to Host Fundraiser for Cristo Rey Network of High Schools

Published on April 2, 2018

This April 4^th, Sharon Bush will be hosting the annual fundraising gala for the Cristo Rey Network of high schools at the Walley Findlay Gallery’s private terrace in Palm Beach, Florida. Bush, the Director of Public Relations and Fundraising for the organization, has spent nearly four decades of her life as an advocate for impoverished citizens in the United States and across the globe.

About Cristo Rey

Cristo Rey is unique in that it is the only high school network in America which caters specifically to children and families in low-income/impoverished areas. These children, whose average family income is only $37,000 (for a family of four), might not otherwise attend a college preparatory school.

The school, which was developed on a Catholic model for its pre-college academic format, also puts a special emphasis on life after college with its revolutionary integrated work-study program, which prepares its students for the workforce so that they can give back to their communities later in life. This program, the Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP), gives students the opportunity to not only gain valuable work experience, but also to earn a majority of their tuition through entry-level work one day out of the week at a local area corporation or nonprofit organization.

Cristo Rey opened its doors with its first school in 1996 under John P. Foley as the Cristo Rey Jesuit High School and grew rapidly from there. Twenty years later, Cristo Rey has 35 schools, 15,505 graduates, an 87% retention rate with corporate partners, 45 University Partners, 3,450 corporate organizations that employ students through CWSP, a 90% college enrollment rate, and a 97% daily attendance rate. Students of Cristo Rey are three times more likely to complete a bachelor’s degree by the age of 24, compared to students in similar low-income populations in the U.S. While in the workplace, 95% of students meet or exceed the expectations of their employers.

There are many students who extol the virtues of this singular network of high schools and Perla Figuereo, class of 2017 at Cristo Rey New York, is no different. Of her CWSP experience at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, Figuereo states on the school’s network website, “It gives me a sense of maturity and motivation because I am surrounded by young professionals who serve as role models for what I can become once I graduate from college.”

Before that, she says she rarely took initiative, “I was content with not having much to do. But then I became motivated by my environment and decided to make the best of my time there. I also developed better communication skills. Not only am I more willing to start a conversation with an adult, but I’ve also made more of an effort to better my English and interact more.”

Cristo Rey provides unique opportunities for underserved and impoverished communities by giving high school students the confidence and drive to succeed in today’s fast-paced and demanding work environments. For more information on the network of schools, please visit http://www.cristoreynetwork.org.

About Sharon Bush

Sharon Bush seems to not only be a good fit as Cristo Rey’s Director of Public Relations and Fundraising, but also for philanthropic work in general.

When she is not working on one of her many organizations (among which are The Karitas Foundation, The Knowledge Is Power Program, UN Women for Peace Association, The Teddy Shares Program, and the environmentally conscious programs, Protein Matrix and GreenStract), she is active in her New York community and a very active mother/grandmother.

A gifted writer, she contributes articles regularly on her blog and to other outlets on any number of subjects in which she is well-versed, such as her humanitarian efforts and her parenting techniques of practicing what one preaches and instilling compassion and empathy in children at an early age. She is the recipient of the Mother of the Year Award from the Hale House for her tireless work with at-risk children. For more information on Sharon Bush and her philanthropy projects, please visit her website. Sharon Bush is delighted to be hosting this year’s event gala and stresses the importance of donations from supporters of the school’s efforts: “The school relies on donations to help ensure that each child that attends gets the opportunity to succeed. Please join us April 4^th to help celebrate and give back to such an amazing cause.”