Each month we focus on a Board member or staff member of volunteer. This month I talked with Ron McGregor about why he got involved with the Parks Foundation. What do you do with your non-Foundation time? I enjoy many outdoor activities, traveling with my wife and daughters and playing hockey. In my day job I work for Avista as a Property Manager. Other community involvement includes local, regional, and national swimming as USA-Swimming official. What brought you to the Fo

Ah parks. Trees. Swings. Sports fields. A stronger link for community connectedness than age, gender and income combined. Flowers. Pools. Wait. Back-up there a minute. I know that many people think of our parks as lovely green spaces. Pretty to look at, nice to enjoy. But how many understand the full impact of a park on a community? I love it when I have data to back-up my work. A study recently published in BioScience shows that, even accounting for other factors that we'd t

Let me start by writing that I love Spokane. It is an amazing place filled with the best people. But Cleveland comes in a close second for me. When my husband and I lived in Cleveland, I was lucky enough to work for a small organization - ParkWorks. (Now known as LAND Studio.) ParkWorks was in many ways similar to the Parks Foundation, but with more staff and a city that desperately called for investment, ParkWorks developed a broader scope of work. We not only raised money f