From Canoe Lesson to $1 Million Gift
The Friends of the Rappahannock has come a long way in the 40 years since Bill Micks helped start the organization; Amazon's and Stack Infrastructure's gift is key to growing the next 40 years.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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Bill Micks has been a proud volunteer of the Friends of the Rappahannock for four decades. Four decades ago, he had a hand in the genesis of the organization’s birth.
A lifetime educator and river enthusiast, Micks taught Red Cross canoeing classes. The family of one of his student’s family owned the land on which the Friends of the Rappahannock facility along Fall Hill Avenue currently sits. That relationship played a key role in opening the door for the discussions that led to FOR acquiring the land.
Forty years on, on a rainy Tuesday morning, Micks stood in the refurbished FOR education room and witnessed a second genesis. A relationship between FOR and two data center companies—Amazon and Stack Infrastructure—who together announced a $1 million gift to Friends of the Rappahannock to assist in its efforts to preserve and protect the river.
In announcing the gift, Amazon’s VP for Public Policy, Shannon Kellogg, said that “water stewardship is key” to the company. It was the first “to use recycled water as part of its cooling systems in Virginia,” he noted, adding that Amazon is spending $300 million to upgrade the Aquia treatment facility in Stafford and $400 million to upgrade the Massaponax water treatment facility plant in Spotsylvania.
The gift comes at an opportune time for FOR, whose total budget is only about $3.5 million.
Executive Director Daira Christian noted the funds will allow the organization to “stabilize our pillar programs,” one of which suffered a significant setback when federal government cuts took away $85,000 from the NOAA Bay-Watershed Education Training program.
Other practical plans for the money include completing the refurbishing on FOR’s building along Fall Hill Avenue, where some 8,000 school children and adults come each year to learn about the river, its environment, and its importance for the region. And buying a much-needed new truck. This means making the building accessible, and upgrading restroom facilities to allow more students to come through the building.
So many of the kids who come through, said Jennifer Gron, FOR’s field trips manager, have never really seen the variety of animals along the river, many of which are displayed in the facility thanks to donations from local citizens.
Christian, however, doesn’t like to think of these purchases as stand-alone items. Ultimately, she told the Advance, “it all goes to the river.”
Kevin Hughes of Stack Infrastructure first came to appreciate the Rappahannock River and the Friends of the Rappahannock when he was a student at the University of Mary Washington. During his remarks, he recalled working with a suitemate who was affixing plates to storm drains indicating that what went into them ultimately flowed to the Chesapeake Bay.
“When Stack started looking at the region,” Hughes said in his remarks, “[FOR] was an obvious organization to reach out to.”
Kevin Marshall, a Spotsylvania Board Supervisor, put a fine point on the significance of the gift and the strengthening relationship among Amazon, Stack Infrastructure, and Friends of the Rappahannock.
“This river has been the center of economic development from the founding of this region,” he said, noting its role in Indian culture prior to European settlers and the heavy shipping and trade industry that built up in the 18th and 19th centuries.
For Micks, whom Christian called the organization’s “Godfather,” Tuesday was a day to reflect and to celebrate the organization beginning its next 40-year story. “I never dreamed FOR would become all this,” he said. But he’s not surprised, either.
“It’s about protecting the river,” he continued. When people volunteer and educate and celebrate this treasure, “good things happen.”
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