THE CONNECTICUT TEEN WILDERNESS FUND
In May 2018, what has been the Harry Duren-Gregory Simons Scholarship Fund was recast as the Connecticut Teen Wilderness Fund by unanimous vote of the Chapter Executive Committee. The important purpose of the Fund is unchanged: To make it possible for disadvantaged teenagers from Connecticut to attend an AMC summer Teen Wilderness Adventure program. The decision came after months of consideration, and after conversation with the Simons family, which was supportive of the change.
Harry Duren and Greg Simons were members whose untimely deaths years ago generated interest in a memorial, and donations made to the Fund in their memory were sometimes sufficient to pay for at least one teen to attend an AMC summer program. In recent years, as fewer members have personal recollection of Harry or Greg, the Fund has not attracted significant donations from members, and it has seldom been self-sufficient, necessitating that the Chapter supplement the Fund so that teens could be assisted. The hope is that by now naming the Fund for its goal, and by recasting the Fund so that donations to it are solicited in honor or celebration of any purpose or occasion, whether as a tribute or as a memorial, and by publishing notice of donations in the program of the Chapter Annual Gathering, the Chapter can revive and strengthen the Fund. The Chapter is committed to the kind of outreach the Fund is intended to achieve, and if as Chapter members we commit to the Fund as a means of memorializing both our joys and our losses, the Fund can achieve its good purposes.
To contribute to the Fund, please send a check made payable to “Appalachian Mountain Club”, with memo line “Connecticut Teen Wilderness Fund”, to Al Puches, Treasurer, 32 Highland Ave, Redding, CT 06896. Enclose with the check information regarding in honor of who or what the contribution is made, and please identify all persons who have contributed.
