{"id":2540533,"date":"2021-12-03T15:26:49","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T22:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/?p=2540533"},"modified":"2022-01-17T10:10:34","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T17:10:34","slug":"this-seasons-hottest-gift-giving-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/culture\/books-media\/this-seasons-hottest-gift-giving-back\/","title":{"rendered":"This Season\u2019s Hottest Gift? Giving Back."},"content":{"rendered":"

Not sure what to buy for your friend the gearhead? Tired of exchanging meaningless gifts with relatives? This year, give them the opportunity to give back. Since 2017, through its Parks For All<\/a> philanthropic arm, Hydro Flask has donated nearly $2 million to 122 nonprofits that in turn have recruited more than 5,000 volunteers to build and maintain trails, pick up garbage (14,000 pounds and counting), and help introduce 41,000 people from marginalized communities to the outdoors. That\u2019s why we teamed up with the brand to help you make this the season of giving back.<\/span><\/p>\n

Make a Donation for a Friend<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

A map of Parks For All grantees can be found <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>, but the opportunities to give back to the outdoors are practically endless. The <\/span>Trust for Public Land<\/span><\/a> is currently running a donation-matching campaign up to $250,000. In the Pacific Northwest the <\/span>Vamos Outdoor Project<\/span><\/a> is introducing the Latinx and English-as-a-second-language communities to the outdoors. Back east, the <\/span>Appalachian Trail Conservancy<\/span><\/a>\u2014a beneficiary of a $30,000 grant from Parks For All for its immersive intern program\u2014continues its mission to \u201cprotect, manage, and advocate for the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.\u201d Need more ideas? From <\/span>backcountry skiing<\/span><\/a> to <\/span>rock climbing<\/span><\/a> to <\/span>mountain biking<\/span><\/a>, nearly every outdoor sport has a conservation and access nonprofit supporting it. Bottom line: look for organizations or causes you know will resonate with your recipients\u2014and make donations in their names.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Get Your Loved One\u2019s Hands Dirty<\/b><\/h3>\n

Groundwork USA<\/span><\/a> works to break down barriers to the outdoors for young people of color age 14 to 18. They get hands-on with their Green Teams, which do environmental restoration work while exploring new career paths. In Northern California, the <\/span>Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods<\/span><\/a> offer a range of volunteer opportunities, from helping to protect and preserve redwood forests to cleaning up Russian River\u2013area state parks. Giving to someone with more time? Sign them up for the Steward\u2019s Sonoma County Youth Ecology Corps. In Alaska, the <\/span>National Forest Foundation<\/span><\/a> is taking Tlingit youth out to connect with their ancestral lands\u2014and renovating campgrounds, maintaining trails, and picking up trash from the coast while they\u2019re at it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Volunteer Locally for a Sport Your Loved One Loves<\/b><\/h3>\n

In the past two years, trail activity among all kinds of people has skyrocketed. But sadly, volunteering has not kept pace. If there is a trail near you, there is likely a local mountain-biking, hiking, conservation, nordic-skiing, or equestrian group nearby that would love your help building berms, installing water bars, cutting back brush, blocking off braided detours, and improving trailhead parking. For ocean lovers, the Surfrider Foundation, which Hydro Flask partners with on its Refill For Good initiative, has a <\/span>volunteer network<\/span><\/a> that hosts cleanups on both coasts, the Great Lakes, and even in Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Can\u2019t make it out with the Pulaski and the work gloves? Donate to the club and support its retail and restaurant sponsors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Organize a Cold-Weather Clothes Drive<\/b><\/h3>\n

As outdoorsy people, we tend to have bins full of wool socks, closets overflowing with insulated layers, and drawers teeming with knit hats. We also probably know big posses of other outdoorsy types with the same abundance. Put that excess and networking to good work by organizing a cold-weather clothing drive. (The needy need more than just coats.) Begin by reaching out to a nonprofit: maybe it\u2019s the local homeless shelter; maybe it\u2019s a distant Native American reservation on the high plains, maybe it\u2019s an inner-city Boys & Girls Club, or it could be your neighborhood school, where administrators will know exactly how to get clean, warm clothing to the right kids without shame. Once you identify the needs, tap into the outdoor community with specific requests. Ask everyone to launder the goods first\u2014and remind them to donate only clothing of a quality that a secondhand store would purchase; no ratty stuff. Then it\u2019s time to market the drive. Here\u2019s a handy <\/span>checklist<\/span><\/a> to get started.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Buy Consciously<\/b><\/h3>\n

But what about those giftees who expect (read: demand) a gift they can hold? The solution is simple: give them a product whose maker gives back. Beyond the wildly successful Parks For All initiative, the Hydro Flask <\/span>Refill For Good<\/span><\/a> campaign has resulted in the removal of 7,600 pounds of trash from oceans and beaches, a cause you can support doubly with a single purchase. When you give a limited-edition <\/span>Refill For Good bottle<\/span><\/a>, you\u2019re not only opting for a vessel that can replace a mountain of single-use plastic over its lifetime, but you\u2019re helping Hydro Flask send $100,000 from the bottle\u2019s proceeds to the <\/span>Surfrider Foundation<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Since 2009,\u00a0Hydro Flask<\/a>\u00a0has designed gear that happily goes where you do and stays the perfect temp til the outdoor adventure is over. Today is wide open. And we\u2019re up for anything. #HeyLetsGo<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because helping people and the planet is the gift that keeps on giving<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115015,"featured_media":2541533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"uuid":"5164d025b5b143b9910cec1b0e9a353e","footnotes":""},"categories":[2575],"tags":[2839],"byline":[],"ad_cat":[],"legacy-category":[],"class_list":["post-2540533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books-media","tag-native"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"This Season\u2019s Hottest Gift? Giving Back.","url":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/culture\/books-media\/this-seasons-hottest-gift-giving-back\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/culture\/books-media\/this-seasons-hottest-gift-giving-back\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/WWG-Edgar-Still-03-scaled.jpg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/WWG-Edgar-Still-03-scaled.jpg"},"articleSection":"Books & Media","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"egivans"}],"creator":["egivans"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online","logo":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/favicon-194x194-1.png"},"keywords":["native"],"dateCreated":"2021-12-03T22:26:49Z","datePublished":"2021-12-03T22:26:49Z","dateModified":"2022-01-17T17:10:34Z"},"rendered":"