HABPI Peddles Health, Wealth, and Joy

Healthy Adams Bicycle-Pedestrian, Inc. (HABPI) associate, Don Gogniat, coined the term “For Health, Wealth, and Joy” and he sure was right! That’s what bicycling creates. 

HABPI’s work is done by an all-volunteer board with 100% of donations going towards actual programming. HABPI is a very efficient community machine. Right now, The Adams County Community Foundation (ACCF) has graciously offered a $15,000 grant to HABPI if we can match it with $15,000 given by new contributors. Thank you, ACCF. 

HABPI members volunteer and concentrate on our various efforts. The efforts include the September 11 National Memorial Trail, the Grand History Trail, the Gettysburg Inner Loop (GIL), the Adams County Historic Society Spur, the Boyds School/Shealer Trail, the South Gettysburg Trail and the Littlestown Rail Trail. Plus, we are supporters of Healthy Eastern Adams Rails & Trails (HEART), a wonderful non-profit that is working on the East Berlin-Hamilton Township trail. 

There are patriotic reasons to build trails. The September 11 National Memorial Trail is planned to travel through Adams County. It will probably be the same alignment as the Grand History Trail (GHT) from Hanover to Gettysburg.  From Gettysburg, the GHT will also go towards historic Emmitsburg, while the September 11 Trail will go towards Chambersburg. 

The September 11th National Memorial Trail will be a tribute to all those who perished on September 11, 2001, in America’s single worst terrorist attack; and a tribute to the heroic first responders. The trail will serve as a symbol of the resiliency and character of the communities in which the victims and their families lived and worked. On that fateful day, al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial aircraft, crashing two aircraft into New York City’s World Trade Center Twin Towers; another aircraft plunged into the Pentagon, and the heroic passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 stopped a fourth airliner from striking the nation’s capital by forcing it to crash in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. All three sites will be connected by the trail.

Besides the patriotic inspiration of these two trails, there is tremendous economic impact from trails in general. For instance, the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) running from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, MD generates between $40 million and $50 million per year to trail-side towns.  

Bicycling and walking are joyful experiences, but the physical activity also creates good health at the same time. It is simply pleasurable, especially in a pretty place like Adams County. 

Well, it is hard to ask, but I’ll do it. HABPI needs new contributors with contributions totaling $15,000 to match the Adams County Community Foundation Challenge Grant. Will you please consider it? Click here to donate!

Thank you!