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You did it! Access for All campaign goal reached for Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

You did it! Access for All campaign goal reached for Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

One more stroke of the paddle and the bow touches the shore. You did it. The long journey is complete. With your help, Friends of the Apostle Islands has reached its fundraising goal of $325,000 for its Access for All initiative. “It takes all of us to make a difference,” Friends Executive Director Jeff Rennicke said in announcing the achievement, “and with the help of nearly 200 individual donors and more than a dozen caring, supportive corporate sponsors, we did it together.” The Access for All campaign is to date the largest effort of its kind in the history of Friends of the Apostle...

DOUBLE your impact during the Access for All Matching Grant Challenge!

DOUBLE your impact during the Access for All Matching Grant Challenge!

Double is better: If you give right now to the Access for All initiative of Friends of the Apostle Islands, your impact will be doubled by the Matching Grant Challenge offered through the support of the Black Spruce Fund. Double your efforts to create access to the beauty and adventure of the Apostle Islands. Double your efforts to help the one-in-five Americans with mobility concerns, vision, hearing, even cognitive issues that make a national park adventure difficult without your help. Double your donation today with the Matching Challenge Grant and double the difference you can make, for...

Kwik Trip supports Access for All with generous contribution

Kwik Trip supports Access for All with generous contribution

Friends of the Apostle Islands recently received major new support for its Access for All initiative through a partnership with Kwik Trip. “Kwik Trip is very proud to be a corporate sponsor of the Friends of the Apostle Islands and specifically the Access for All Initiative,” says John McHugh, Kwik Trip’s Vice President of External Relations. McHugh saw firsthand the progress made so far in making the park more accessible to people of all abilities during an accessibility tour of Stockton Island this summer.Friends Executive Director Jeff Rennicke discusses accessibility goals with John...

Supporters urged to “dream of what the Apostle Islands could become” during Madison Access for All event

Supporters urged to “dream of what the Apostle Islands could become” during Madison Access for All event

Dreams of a more accessible Apostle Islands National Lakeshore met reality as dozens gathered at Rutabaga Paddlesports in Madison for an Access for All event. The gathering brought together donors, potential donors, Friends members and anyone interested in the Apostle Islands for an evening of food and conversation. Representatives from Senator Tammy Baldwin and the Wisconsin Office of Outdoor Recreation attended the event to learn more about the Access for All campaign. Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Executive Director Jeff Rennicke told the supporters to celebrate the...

Friends hosts “A Taste of the Apostles” fundraiser for Access for All

Friends hosts “A Taste of the Apostles” fundraiser for Access for All

What better evening than enjoying a place you love with good people for a good cause and topping it off with fine food? On Saturday, June 3rd, Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore teamed with Wilderness Inquiry to host a fundraising event called “A Taste of the Apostles.”Held at the Wilderness Inquiry Outpost near Little Sand Bay, the event featured a tour of Meyers Beach, the site of the proposed accessible ramp project replacing the 45-step stairway that now impedes easy access to the beach. “Of all the places we run trips, this project at Meyers Beach would go the furthest...

An Earth Day letter to you from the daughter of Gaylord Nelson

An Earth Day letter to you from the daughter of Gaylord Nelson

Dear Friends of the Apostle Islands: In 1970, my father Gaylord Nelson was at the heart of two major movements in this country – the founding of Earth Day and the legislative designation of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in northern Wisconsin. Both efforts to celebrate and protect the life-sustaining and life-enhancing wonders of our planet were bound by his undying commitment to inclusion. I believe they are connected.Tia and Gaylord Nelson - Ked Martin photoWith Earth Day, dad changed the way all of us view and celebrate the planet we live on. By protecting this soul-stirring...

An eye for helping: Photographer couple targets Friends with April 22nd fundraiser

An eye for helping: Photographer couple targets Friends with April 22nd fundraiser

From the Galapagos to Africa, from Iceland to Hawaii, the husband-and-wife photography team of Carol and Roy Toepke have an eye for nature and a deep-seated desire to help protect it. This April 22nd, they are targeting the Access for All initiative of Friends with a fundraising effort to help one of their favorite places on earth: the Apostle Islands.Carol and Roy Toepke“We're big fans of the Apostle Islands,” says Carol. “We have explored the lighthouses, ventured out to the mainland and Devils Island sea caves and trekked to the ice caves twice.” And they have captured it all in...

THE PERFECT GIFT: The gift of caring for a place you love

THE PERFECT GIFT: The gift of caring for a place you love

Think of the gifts these islands have already give you – the warm sand on your feet as you etch your footprints into a sun-warmed stretch of beach, the mystery of the sea caves with the harp-like drips of water all around, the sweet sailing winds in the sails, the starry nights around the campfire. To all who have been here, and even to those who are still dreaming of it, the Apostle Islands have been a gift of adventure, beauty, history, and memories.So when looking for the perfect gift this holiday season, look no further than the islands themselves. Available on our website you will find...

What a difference a year makes: A year-end letter from our Executive Directors

What a difference a year makes: A year-end letter from our Executive Directors

From the deck of a sailboat or the cockpit of a kayak, from a beach walk or the top deck of the cruise boat, when you look out at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore you are looking into deep time. The sandstone of the cliffs can date back 700 million years. The lakebed itself was scooped out by glaciers that retreated perhaps 12,000 years ago. Even a single drop of water can take a century to work its way out of the lake basin. Against such a timescale, what can a single year mean?For Friends of the Apostle Islands, 2022 meant a record number of new members and supporters, volunteers...

Giving Tuesday 2022 – Access for All

Giving Tuesday 2022 – Access for All

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...