Giving Back

When I turned my hobby into a business, I knew that I wanted it to do more than just earn an income. I wanted it to make a difference. I’ve always admired businesses that have a strong cause or that support amazing organizations. When I started Smeeny Beanie Knits, I really focused on what was important to me and how I wanted to represent my new brand. When I first started donating, I had the intention of rotating organizations every quarter. Soon, I realized that the organization that truly spoke to me and that gave me the idea to give back in the first place was the National Park Foundation. There is something amazing and magical about our parks and our country’s choice to protect these lands. The National Park Foundation is the official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service and through its initiatives, the Foundation has been able to generate and build partnerships and programs to continue protecting and sharing these very special places.

Why the National Park Foundation?

So much of the life I live now stems from the impact that the parks had on me. Growing up, my dad would take my sister and I camping almost every weekend, and soon we started going on backpacking trips. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, we frequently made our way to Yosemite, Sequoia, and Redwood National Parks. We loved spending this time outside! After college, that love of the outdoors brought my (now) husband and I to Yellowstone National Park. I had been there as a kid, but now we had the opportunity to work there! We ended up spending two seasons working there and spent all of our free time backpacking in the greater Yellowstone area and in the Grand Tetons. It was incredible! In total, we spent about 11 months living and working in the park. I will never forget the magic of our time there! To read more about why I choose to give back, click here!