Who We Help - Eppie's Wellness Foundation

Sacramento County Department of Regional Parks

The 23-mile American River Parkway is often referred to as the "Jewel of Sacramento", a blueprint for urban parks, and the greatest recreational asset to our community.  The Parkway makes our region an ideal place to live, work and play.

More than 5 million visitors enjoy this unique wildlife and recreation area annually. Fishing, boating and rafting opportunities lure water enthusiasts. Picnic sites, golfing, guided natural and historic tours and much more are often just steps away from the paved trails.

Access to the Parkway is available at various points off of Highway 50. Sacramento County's Department of Regional Parks maintains and operates the American River Parkway. Through their generous support and cooperation, the American River Parkway is the host of both Eppie's Great Race and Eppie's Kid Duathlon.

Shriners Hospitals for Children of Northern California is a regional pediatric medical center providing highly specialized care and rehabilitation to children with congenital conditions and complex medical needs regardless of the families' ability to pay. Located just minutes from downtown Sacramento, the Northern California Shriners Hospital treats children who have orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, cleft lip, scars from any cause, need for specialized plastic surgery and other complex surgical needs.  Our hospital is a destination of choice for families throughout Northern California, the Western United States, Northwestern Mexico and Canada.

The course of care is determined individually for each patient. Each patientís path to success is fueled by private donations and driven by excellence in treatment, teaching and research. Our success is guided by our hospital mission to:

• Provide the highest quality care to children with neuro-musculoskeletal conditions, burn injuries and other special health care needs within a compassionate, family-centered and collaborative care environment.
• Provide for the education of physicians and other health care professionals
• Conduct research to discover new knowledge that improves the quality of care and quality of life of children and families
• This mission is carried out without regard to race, color, creed, sex or sect, disability, national origin or ability of a patient or family to pay

The American River Parkway Foundation works with Sacramento County Department of Parks and Recreation to care for the American River Parkway year round. The Parkway Foundation works to support the conservation and enjoyment of the American River Parkway by fostering environmental education, stewardship and volunteer opportunities.

The American River Parkway Foundation consists of ten programs along the Parkway for running trail maintenance, trash clean-up, and burn site restoration; three annual special events that support the work of the Parkway Foundation; and over 5,000 volunteers.

In 2015, the American River Parkway Foundation:

• Removed over 35,340 pounds of trash from the Parkway, the equivalent to the weight of 9 cars!
• Organized 5,000 volunteers working over 15,000 hours to take care of the Parkway !
• Coordinated over 55 volunteer events
• Removed 13,036 invasive plants from the Parkway such as yellow star thistle, stinkwort, and red sesbania
• Purchased 60,000 poop bags to be distributed to 12 dispensers along the Parkway
• Cleared all 23 miles of running trails