SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio Mission has been selected as one of 20 parks to participate in a national campaign designed to raise awareness of preserving historic places.
The 2016 Partners in Preservation: National Parks is awarding $2 million in grants to historic sites around the country in need of preservation. Twenty national parks have been selected as nominees. A popular vote will determine the winners.
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“We are very proud to have made the first cut for this national contest, and now we need our supporters and the general public to help us win our grant,” Los Compadres Chairman Steve Souter said. “With the support from our friends group, Los Compadres, we submitted a solid proposal for a much-needed preservation project at Mission Concepción and were able to get into the final running for the grant dollars.”
Mission Concepción is one of the 20 sites and could qualify for $236,000 for specific projects, including restoration work at the SA Mission, which is now designated as a World Heritage Site.
National Geographic is hosting the public voting portal at VoteYourPark.org. The voting began Wednesday and will run through July 5.
“We will be encouraging everyone throughout the community to vote for the Missions every day,” Souter said. “We’d love to see our government agency partners, businesses throughout the community and our friends post the Vote Missions button on their websites and social media channels. Plus, people can watch our Facebook page each day and share our posts with their friends. We will have a different photo of Mission Concepción posted each day with an easy way to vote for the Missions.”
An open house will be held on June 18 at Mission Concepción, where tours, kids activities, a lecture on the mission project, food trucks and music will all be available.