Sunday, January 4, 2009

GEORGIA: FRIENDS HONOR MEREDITH EMERSON WITH HIKER'S FOUNDATION

MEREDITH EMERSON


ELLA, MEREDITH EMERSON'S FAITHFUL FRIEND AND HIKING BUDDY

MISSION STATEMENT
Right To Hike, Inc. is dedicated to celebrating the life of our friend, Meredith Hope Emerson through raising funds and awareness for causes close to Meredith's heart. We hope to honor her memory by sharing her courage, love of the outdoors and belief that all people have the right to live without fear.


One Year Later, Georgia Hiker's Murder Inspires Better Rescue Methods
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Associated Press

ATHENS, Ga. — Friends of Meredith Emerson were distraught when she disappeared while hiking in north Georgia on New Year's Day a year ago. They were devastated when the 24-year-old University of Georgia graduate was found murdered one week later.

But Emerson's many friends were determined to make sure she will never be forgotten. In the year since she and her dog vanished Jan. 1, 2008 near Blood Mountain, they have raised $35,000 for causes important to former resident of Longmont, Colo.

Friends who started the Right to Hike Foundation raised money through a restaurant promotion, a 5K race and a banquet. The foundation donated $5,000 to the university to help endow a scholarship to study in France, as Emerson did. The group also bought 15 GPS units and distributed them to hiking outposts in north Georgia, paying the $99 annual subscription fee for each. Lost hikers can use the GPS to signal rescuers.

A former drifter, Gary Michael Hilton, is serving a life term for killing Emerson. Hilton coldly described to investigators how he had kidnapped her, beat and eventually killed her. He also faces a murder charge in the killing and decapitation of a nurse in Florida.

(snip)

The 20 or so friends who began the Right to Hike Foundation have also gotten a trail named for her: Meredith's Trail, at the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center. Karrenbauer said Emerson, who lived in Gwinnett County, often hiked there with her dog, Ella.

CHOMP RECOMMENDS THIS FOUNDATION.
THERE IS SO MUCH ON THIS SITE TO HONOR AND TO REMEMBER MEREDITH EMERSON. WE WILL NOT LET HER BE LOST AGAIN. PLEASE, CHECK THE "RIGHT TO HIKE" WEBSITE BELOW. BECOME A MEMBER, BECOME A SPONSOR, READ ABOUT MEREDITH AND HER BELOVED DOG, ELLA, JOIN IN HIKING ACTIVITIES.

In celebrating the life of Meredith Hope Emerson, friends and family have founded Right to Hike, Inc., a non-profit organization that plans to support causes that were close to Meredith's heart, including hiking safety.

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