The Let’s Connect fundraising campaign, aiming to build a bike trail from Perry to Woodward and so connect the Raccoon River Valley Trail and High Trestle Trail, got its latest shot in the arm this week.
Hotel Pattee owners Jay and Denise Hartz presented a $7,500 check to Mike Wallace, director of the Dallas County Conservation Board, which is building the connector trail. The Hartzes raised the funds through a Gofundme page.
“Jay and Denise have been great supporters of this trail project and of other projects that the Dallas County Conservation Board is involved in,” Wallace said. “We really appreciate the donation as it will help leverage other funds that are being raised for the trail.”
The Let’s Connect committee is working to raise the $5 million needed to build the 9-mile connector trail and join two premier recreational trails in Iowa that together attract more than 750,000 users annually to central Iowa. With a connector trail in place, Perry will host trail heads for both trails.
The Let’s Connect committee and the Dallas County Conservation Board have so far raised about $1.3 million toward the goal, according to Wallace, which includes state and federal recreational trails grants as well as Let’s Connect’s private fundraising.
The Let’s Connect committee’s Big Bike Kickoff Nov. 10 brought more attention and more dollars to the connector-trail efforts.
Online donations are a new feature of the Let’s Connect campaign, according to Wallace, who said “many of our trail supporters prefer the online option.”
He said connector-trail supporters can now go to the Let’s Connect website and see an update on the project.
An online donation link has been set up on that website to help raise the necessary funds to connect these two trail systems.
“The goal is raising approximately $5 million to build what is projected to be a crucial connection in the whole central Iowa trail network,” Wallace said. “That network now includes more than 600 miles of paved trails that connect more than two dozen towns around the Des Moines metro area and beyond.”
