Once upon a time, there was an organization known as Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Over the course of 32 years, the nonprofit group raised funds to support maintenance and beautification efforts along its 469-mile-long namesake. The parkway is often cited as Americaâs most-visited national park.
In some of those years, the group raised millions of dollars, according to its tax returns. Even more importantly, the organization annually fielded and organized thousands of hours of labor by do-gooding volunteers.
On parkway property, they picked up trash, created and maintained hiking trails, planted viewshed-protecting trees and much more. In 2019 Friends volunteers contributed 13,444 hours of labor. In 2020, which was impacted by the pandemic, it was 9,574 hours.