Please donate to help repair Hammond Hill trails

Hammond Hill State Forest is a popular place for all sorts of endurance activities, including trail running, snowshoeing, hiking, cross country skiing, and more. To ensure that Hammond Hill’s trails remain accessible to all trail users, the Friends of Hammond Hill are asking for help from the community to raise funds to repair the forest’s DEC trails.

The money raised will be used to repair muddy and eroded sections of the Y1 and B1 trails. Y1 serves as the main entry trail from the parking lot to the forest’s expansive trail network. This trail is also an integral part of three FLRC events, comprising the final 1.5 miles of the Thom B Trail Runs course and the first 1.5 miles of both the FLRC Challenge’s Long Loomis course and the Super Frosty Loomis snowshoe course. Without Y1 we could not continue these races in their current forms.

Last year, the Friends of Hammond Hill’s fundraiser exceeded its fundraising goal, allowing for extensive resurfacing on sections of the Y4 and Y5 trails. Due to the expanded scope of this year’s project, along with an increased cost in materials, the Friends of Hammond Hill’s 2022 fundraising goal is significantly higher.

To aid in this effort, the Finger Lakes Runners Club is using its 501(c)(3) non-profit status to act as the fiscal sponsor for the Friends of Hammond Hill so all donations can be tax-deductible. Please donate now through GiveGab, and together we can keep our area’s trails in great shape for outdoor recreation. And if you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for the Thom B Trail Runs (May 22nd) and the FLRC Challenge (ongoing through August 14th) so you can experience the beautiful Hammond Hill trails for yourself!

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Pete, thank you for calling attention to this. I have signed up this morning for Hammond Hill Race. I will also give to this effort. It may be nice to have at registration some sort of simple donation jar for this effort also. It is very easy for people to drop a dollar bill or a 5 dollar bill in a jar when they see the issue and efforts to help cure it right at the venue.

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Done. I donated the first round also. I find the $16+ fee to GiveGab outrageous. I’ve complained about this to other organizations that use GiveGab, the answer was that their bookkeeping was more expensive than having GiveGab do it. But it rubs me the wrong way. Still, for HH I will grin and bear it.

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The transaction fee does seem high, and perhaps higher than last year. The company has gone through two acquisitions in the past year, I hear, so perhaps that’s related.

Having a fundraising platform is a necessity in the modern world, and GiveGab does a decent job of that. So I don’t begrudge them some level of transaction fee, but perhaps one that’s less tied to the amount of the donation.

Thanks for sharing this, Pete! I just got around to donating. I agree having a contribution jar at the race is a great idea!

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A donation jar at the race sounds like something @Mike_L might be able to coordinate for the Friends of Hammond Hill.

David - Thanks for the “grin and bear” … I’ll pass that on. -Mike

@Nick_Ruiz and @adamengst - Donation jar at your event. Great idea. Ann and I will try and bring something for day of … Thanks everyone!