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Community Corner

Help Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake Earn Up to $25,000 in Grants from The North Face Explore Fund

As part of the $250,000 Explore Fund, The North Face has named Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake (BBBSGC) as a 2014 Top 10 Explore Fund grantee chosen to receive up to $25,000. Beginning today, The North Face encourages its community to vote on www.TheNorthFace.com/ExploreFund and The North Face Facebook Page for the organization of their choice, giving fans a chance to be directly involved in supporting a great cause.

The Explore Fund’s mission is to inspire and enable the next generation of explorers by funding non-profit organizations that are working to connect children with nature. By encouraging an active healthy lifestyle and protection of our natural landscapes, a stronger connection of youth to the outdoors can be nurtured. BBBSGC was selected from more than 350 applications submitted in 2014. View Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake’s video anthem and vote for a favorite cause by visiting The North Face Facebook page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWI3RBXKtVY

“This grant will allow us to provide unique outdoor programs to a diverse group of Maryland youth in order to help establish an appreciation for nature while also fostering effective mentoring relationships,” stated Terry Hickey, president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake. “We believe that every child should have the opportunity to experience fitness and wellness through the magic of the outdoors. This grant will provide youth in our programs the opportunity to participate in Baltimore Chesapeake Bay’s Outward Bound environmental education programs.”

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Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake has worked for over 60 years to help children and youth reach their fullest potential by building safe and enduring mentoring relationships through best practices, quality standards and professional support. Since its founding, the program has positively impacted over 30,000 youth, while serving 14 counties in Central Maryland, Southern Maryland, and the Eastern Shore.  Big Brothers Big Sisters, in collaboration with Baltimore Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School, hopes to provide an outdoor experiential education component to the mentoring programs. In addition, BBBSGC has been able to advance the mission exponentially with the support of several important partner organizations such as Baltimore Chesapeake Bay’s Outward Bound. In collaboration with these outdoor education experts Big Brothers Big Sisters hopes to make a larger impact for youth involved in mentoring programs. To learn more about Big Brothers Big Sisters’ mentoring programs, visit www.biglittle.org.

All of The North Face Explore Fund recipients were chosen based on their commitment to one of three different focus areas: creating more connections of youth to nature and providing inspiration to explore, increasing access to close to home front-and-backcountry recreation opportunities, and engaging a new and diverse audience with the outdoors. Videos by each of the top 10 organizations detailing how they are contributing to getting their community outdoors are featured on www.TheNorthFace.com/ExploreFund and The North Face Facebook Page, where fans can vote for the cause closest to them. After the Facebook community votes are tallied, the top five organizations will be awarded $25,000, and the remaining non-profits will receive $10,000 grants to continue their work to get more youth outdoors.

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View BBBSGC’s video and vote for a favorite cause at The North Face Facebook Page to support The North Face mission to start a global movement of Outdoor Exploration. Winners will be announced on July 19.

Since The Explore Fund was initiated in 2010, The North Face has provided more than $1 million in grants to non-profits all over the world working to connect youth to the outdoors, with more than three quarters of that going to programs in the United States.

For more information on this cycle's grantees, please visit www.explorefund.org. Vote for 2014 Top 10 Explore Fund Grantees on The North Face Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/2014explorefund or www.TheNorthFace.com/ExploreFund

 

About Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake

For more than 60 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake has operated under the belief that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life. As Maryland's largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, we make meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”), ages 6 through 18, in your local community. We develop positive relationships that have a direct and lasting effect on the lives of young people. 

About The North Face®

The North Face, a division of VF Outdoor, Inc., was founded in 1966. Headquartered in Alameda, California, the company offers the most technically advanced products in the market to accomplished climbers, mountaineers, snowsport athletes, endurance athletes, and explorers. The company’s products are sold in specialty mountaineering, backpacking, running, and snowsport retailers, premium-sporting goods retailers and major outdoor specialty retail chains.

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