Volunteer and Outreach Program quoted in the NY Times!

It's amazing, sometimes, how far news spreads! Here's an op-ed piece called "Michelle's Next Mission" that just appeared in the New York Times, of all places, quoting me talking about our outreach program. As you may know already, Mount Rainier's outreach program has recently been merged into the volunteer program. We're working on ways to involve volunteers in the outreach program and vice versa, so you can expect to see more and more about that synergy here on this blog. Meanwhile, the grand experiment we're currently working on in our outreach program is called "CAMP": Camping Adventure with My Parents, which will bring families from the Seattle area to Mount Rainier for camping experiences on three successive weekends starting July 17. Tim Egan from the New York Times found out about our program and called for a quote--in an article addressed to Michelle Obama, of all things! What a small world.

And Mrs. Obama, if you're listening, we would be thoroughly honored to host you at Mount Rainier National Park, as part of our volunteer program, our outreach program, or both.

From the New York Times:

"It’s not that this generation of young people is different from previous ones. Human beings need nature to live full lives — always have, always will. Thus, when rangers at Rainier started an experiment this summer to bring families from Seattle’s poorest neighborhoods on their first-time camping excursions in the park, 'we had far more people who wanted to try it than we were able to accommodate,' said Kevin Bacher, a park ranger...."