MountainTrue and our French Broad Riverkeeper team would like to extend our sincere thanks and gratitude to the Asheville-based Glass Foundation for their recent grant, which enabled us to purchase a new pickup truck (pictured above) for our French Broad Riverkeeper program. 

Anyone who has worked alongside the MountainTrue Clean Waters team over the last 10 years will be familiar with our old truck, the 2005 GMC Sierra, which seemed to always be on its last leg due to the daily strain brought by our work. While that truck hasn’t officially bit the dust (it’s now assisting one of our colleagues), the increased workload post-Helene demonstrated the need for a new vehicle. The new truck is out there today helping with river clean-ups, access point and campsite improvements, water quality sampling, events and meetings, and everything else we do each day to protect and steward the French Broad. 

Thanks to a generous $50,000 grant, we purchased a 2022 Ford F-150 with four-wheel drive and enough power to pull even our largest dump trailer. We then outfitted it with all-terrain tires, a toolbox, canoe rack, and decals for MountainTrue and French Broad Riverkeeper. We even had a little money left over to put towards a utility-style dump trailer, which is perfect for smaller clean-ups, paddle trail tasks, and other stewardship endeavors. Purchased in mid-July, the truck has only been in use for less than two months, but has already contributed to several clean-ups, floats, access point improvements, campsite construction projects, and more. With fewer than 20,000 miles on it, we anticipate this truck spending a long life with our organization and having an outsized impact on our work to advocate for a clean, safe, accessible, and scenic French Broad River.

The Glass Foundation is based in Asheville, and was created in 2000 by Kenneth E. and Nancy J. Glass, and strives to help Western North Carolina thrive as a whole community educationally, environmentally, and culturally, and offer a distinctive quality of life. Their 2025 grant cycle prioritized disaster recovery in addition to their traditional focus areas of environmental education and preservation, and developmental and educational opportunities for children and teens. 

Thanks again to the Glass Foundation for their support. We are sincerely grateful!