Giving Tuesday 2022 – Access for All

Giving-Tuesday-Access-For-All logo

November 28, 2022

Tracy Tabaka looks out at the blue horizons of Lake Superior. There, just beyond the Meyers Beach parking area lie the green jewels of the wild Apostle Islands and the famous sea caves. She smiles, thinking of the freedom she will feel with a paddle in her hand, the wind in her face. She has been dreaming of this for years.

But that smile fades as she looks down at the barrier before her – 45 steps tumbling down a 23-foot bank to the kayak launching area below – and then at her wheelchair. “When I pick up a paddle,” Tabaka says, “I am no more disabled than anyone else. The only real difficulty is all those stairs.”

For the one in five Americans, like Tracy, who live with mobility challenges daily, “all those stairs” can spell the difference between the trip of a lifetime and a lifetime of being left behind. You can help change that by supporting our Access for All campaign this Giving Tuesday.

Steep wooden stairway down to Meyers Beach
Conceptual drawing of switchback ramp from the parking lot down to the beach

Conceptual Drawing of Meyers Beach Accessible Ramp – click for larger view

Friends of the Apostle Islands is asking your support in the biggest capital campaign in our organization’s history aimed at supporting the ongoing efforts of the National Park Service to remove barriers to the park.

Removing barriers ranges from replacing those 45 steps at the Meyers Beach launching site with an all-accessible ramp, to continuing the boardwalk project on Sand Island, to building an accessible amphitheater. on Sand island and ensuring the latest technology on interpretive signs and our website.

Removing barriers for people of all abilities to explore the Apostle Islands is a core mission of the Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. We need your help. Give the gift of access this Giving Tuesday, November 29th by supporting the Access for All campaign.

Infinity symbol in green and orange Access for All

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