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Coca-Cola Trail Grants Give a Boost to Trail Organizations Across the Country 
WASHINGTON, D.C. — November 20, 2006

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) and Coca-Cola North America have joined forces to award $5,000 grants to 14 exemplary trail organizations throughout the United States. This combined $70,000 will help fund the local and statewide groups in their efforts to create and improve their networks of trails and greenways. In the past year, Coca-Cola North America has committed $500,000 to the rail-trail movement through a series of grants aimed at catalyzing trail development nationwide. 

This year's recipients include:

• Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance(Lansing, Mich.)
• Illinois Trails Conservancy (Capron, Ill.)
• Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail (Chicago)
• Parks & Trails New York /Robert Moody Trail (Gorham, N.Y.)
• Knowlton Athletic Association (Columbia, N.J.)
• Bicycle Transportation Alliance (Portland, Ore.)
• Friends of the Spokane Centennial Trail (Spokane, Wash.)
• Alachua County Bicycle Alliance (Gainesville, Fla.)
• Metro Bicycle Coalition  and Friends of the Lafitte Corridor (New Orleans)
• Cookeville Trail Authority (Cookeville, Tenn.)
• Trails and Open Space Coalition (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
• Catonsville Rails-to-Trails, Inc. (Catonsville, Md.)
• Kentucky Rails-to-Trails Council (Lexington, Ken.)
• National Road Heritage Trail (NHRT), Inc. (Indianapolis)

Criteria for selection included both need and merit with selected organizations demonstrating significant, on-the-ground presence and project work related to the development of trails and greenways.

"For most of the last century, The Coca-Cola Company and its bottlers have supported community needs in keeping with the times," said Sandy Douglas, Coca-Cola North America president. "Today, providing people with more opportunities to be active and have greater access to green space is a clearly identified community need. We're pleased that with our contribution to the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy we are able to support that need and give something lasting back to our communities."

"Creating green places for recreation and exercise requires the support of not only local organizations, but also committed corporate citizens, like Coca-Cola," says Keith Laughlin, president of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. "The long-term benefits of this partnership will be innumerable and span generations."