Promotional text and photos of Jim Kern are set against a plain white background.

Check made out to Florida Trail Association
Address to send check: PO Box #140430, Gainesville, FL 32614

Jim’s Still Blazing the Trail. Follow His Lead. Jim Kern founded the Florida Trail Association in 1966 with a vision of a continuous footpath the length of Florida. Nearly 60 years later, he is still asking others to join him. BLAZE: FTA’s Next Chapter is a community awareness campaign introducing more people to the Florida Trail and the work FTA does to build, maintain, protect, and promote it. To help lead the way, Jim will match the next $20,000 in BLAZE donations, dollar for dollar. Together, we can turn $20,000 into $40,000. The below is a letter from Jim to all of you: To All Florida Trail Members and Supporters: I raised my head off the pillow this morning at 4:00a.m. and got up, went to the unabridged dictionary in my living room and looked up the word “dire”: 1. Suffering. That’s not us. 2. Indicating trouble, disaster, misfortune. That’s not us either but closer.  My plea this morning: All hands on deck. We have had life too easy. The idea has always been simple: a 1,500 mile foot path the length of Florida, from Gulf Islands National Seashore east of Pensacola to Big Cypress National Preserve east of Naples. Money rolling in from the US Forest Service seduced us. That partnership is important and we want to maintain it but we have done little to supplement that support through other funding sources. If we do things right we can right the ship and salvage all that we have worked so hard for. Our membership has been dwindling for how many years? And we have been doing nothing about it. We are running out of time. Beginning today, I am asking: Support the idea of a continuous foot path the length of Florida. Support BLAZE: FTA’s Next Chapter. I will match the next $20,000 donated because I believe in this trail and the people who make it possible. Be thinking about how you can help. Make a donation. Bring someone into the Association. Tell someone about the Florida Trail. I will write again soon, but you don’t have to wait until then. Write to me if you have ideas.<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/hxn9dbuhd/image/upload/v1793200755/wysiwyg/gtgiqtbvtgnss75byeyu.png" style="width:84px;display:inline-block;vertical-align:bottom;margin-right:5px;margin-left:5px;text-align:center;padding:0px 1px;max-width:100%" /> Jim Kern Founder, Florida Trail Association Follow Jim’s lead. Donate today and have your gift matched, dollar for dollar, while matching funds remain.

Florida Trail Association Inc

The Jim Kern $20,000 BLAZE Challenge - Jim’s Still Blazing the Trail. Follow His Lead!

Choose an amount:

$

You'll receive a tax receipt for making a donation.