Thank you for visiting Drew Foley’s Profile Page.

I'm thrilled to be training for the 2011 New York City ING Marathon and even more thrilled to be raising money for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust (MWCT). My goal is to raise $6,000 to help support the MWCT. To DONATE to my fundraiser just click the big orange DONATE button on the right side of this page.  You can also go to Drew Foley’s Fundraising Page for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and donate there as well by clicking the orange DONATE button.

I’m an Ecologist and Environmental Planner working in AECOM’s Alexandria Office – soon to be part of AECOM’s Philadelphia Office. I'm a regular runner, backpacker, hiker, and have played soccer my whole life. And even though I’m athletic, I never thought I would run a marathon and never thought I would want to run one. I’ve always been told by my friends and family that have run them that it’s an amazing feeling but it's A LOT of work. While I’m knee deep in training and finding that it is a lot of work, I keep going because I know I’m running for a purpose. I’m running to raise money and awareness for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust (MWCT).

The overall mission of the MWCT is to support the preservation of biodiversity within the Maasai tribal lands of East Africa by promoting conservation, education, youth development, and health services within the Maasai community. MWCTis unique because they couple the promotion of sustainable and productive human land use with the simultaneous preservation of precious and necessary animal and plant habitats making the MWCT’s work sustainable and valuable.

My company, AECOM, has been a key partner with MWCT for several years in a variety of pro-bono initiatives including strategic planning, baseline inventory mapping, watershed mapping, market assessment and fundraising support, and in 2009 10 runners from AECOM teamed up to raise awareness and funds for the MWCT. This year, AECOM is again teaming up with project organizer and actor Edward Norton and Crowdrise.com to raise funds and gain worldwide support for the MWCT, and this year it’s my turn to run!

My goal is to raise $6,000. Anything you can donate, whether it’s $5 or $500, will be put towards achieving this goal. Every donation counts.

Specifically, here are some ways your donation will positively impact the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust:

• $1/mile will pay for the boarding of a game scout for 1 month, ensuring protection of lions and rhinos against poachers (Your Total Donation = $26).
• $1/mile will pay the salary of a teacher for 3 days at MWCT (Your Total Donation = $26).
• $5/mile will pay the salary of one Simba scout for 1 month to help protect lions from being killed by poachers (Your Total Donation = $130).
• $10/mile will pay the salary of a game scout for 1 month (Your Total Donation = $260).
• $20/mile will buy a radio for a game scout to track wildlife poachers (Your Total Donation = $520).

To donate, just click the big orange DONATE button in the upper right corner of this page. Or you can also follow this link to my project page: http://www.crowdrise.com/teammwct/fundraiser/DrewFoley

Thank you for sponsoring me to help continue the great work that MWCT do to preserve biodiversity. They are a model for us all.

It's not the worst thing you could do today! In fact, I would ask that you not only vote for me, but DONATE for my charity too!!

Besides, it's important to make every day count and by voting for me you're promoting the health and well being of a great cause -- the MWCT.