The Appalachian Mountain Club has been an active participant in the White Mountains for over a century.  Founded in 1876, within three years they constructed a trail in Tuckerman’s Ravine.  Their advocacy (along with many others) helped ensure the passage of the Weeks Act in 1911, leading to the creation of the White Mountain National Forest.  Many other developments followed, including the establishment of the 4000-footer club in 1957.

AMC volunteers wearing Burgeon donated masksHundreds of AMC volunteers donate tens of thousands of hours to maintain hundreds of miles of trails here in the White Mountains.  They clear brush, trim trees, help build and maintain drainage lines, build rock cairns, and many other tasks required to keep the trails safe while minimizing the impact on the environment.

 
These volunteers often work in groups -- you can imagine how much effort it takes to create a new waterbar, clear blowdowns, or build a scree wall above treeline.  COVID-19 presented an additional challenge to these hearty folk.  How to work in teams where you cannot socially distance and still do the work required to keep the trails clear?

In June, Burgeon’s Founder, Rudy Glocker, reached out to see if we could help.  Rudy, an active AMC member for decades got in touch with his contacts to see if Burgeon could provide masks or other resources for these volunteers.  Soon, an interesting partnership came together.

Burgeon masks made from upcycled AMC t-shirtsThe AMC had hundreds of old t-shirts sitting in storage.  Not only that, some chapters had left over t-shirts from old events or past projects.  The plan came together.  The AMC and select chapters would supply old t-shirts to Burgeon.  Burgeon would upcycle the t-shirts into masks and distribute them to volunteers, as well as providing masks for general use by the AMC.

Burgeon would donate the time to cut them, stitch them and mail the to volunteers, completely free of charge, as they have for over 8,500 masks since mid-March.

AMC volunteers with Burgeon supplied masksTo date, Burgeon (with the help of hundreds of upcycled AMC t-shirts) has supplied over 500 individual volunteers with masks and hundreds more to The AMC in-house team.  The total number of donated masks now exceeds 1000.  Burgeon is honored to supply these masks to the volunteers and staff who do so much to keep our mountains pristine and accessible.  We thank you for your work.  The AMC is now the largest recipient of Burgeon masks.

Burgeon is also proud to announce that it is adopting an iconic White Mountains trail as well!  We will announce the trail in the coming days so stay tuned to our blog posts and social media channels.

To all the volunteers out there - THANK YOU!!!  We greatly appreciate the hard work you do to keep the trails in great shape for our enjoyment while minimizing the impact on our environment.  Good luck out there this year and stay safe!

Learn More about Our Impact:

Ammonoosuc Community Health
A Letter from our Founder
Burgeon Masks Making an Impact
Burgeon Converts Production to Battle COVID-19

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Comments

Great news! And thank you so much for supporting our fine organization. Can we get these through you, or through someone at AMC? I am a volunteer leader, in the Adventure Travel program.

Cheers to you,
Janis

— Janis