Gettysburg, PA—Healthy Adams Bicycle/Pedestrian, Inc. (HABPI) invites the community to attend a celebration of Tom Jolin’s 18 years of dedicated service on its Board. Jolin is a founder of HABPI. The reception will be on Wednesday, January 11, 2023, 5:30-7:00 p.m. in the Charlie Sterner Building at the Gettysburg Recreation Park, 545 Long Lane, Gettysburg. Light refreshments will be served.
A long-time resident and dedicated community activist, Jolin has been a tireless advocate for “active transportation,” which includes walking and bicycling. He previously served as Executive Director of the Adams County Housing Authority. He is also a gifted musician well known for his many performances in the community and beyond.
HABPI is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization founded in 2005 to develop safe, accessible walking and bicycling trails or paths in Adams County for recreation, transportation, and improved health. Since 2007, HABPI has worked with community partners to plan and develop the Gettysburg Inner Loop (GIL). When complete, the GIL will be a 5.5-mile, environmentally friendly, and safe path for bicyclists and pedestrians to travel around the borough. The GIL is about half complete.
HABPI President Eric Meyer said, “it would be difficult to overstate the impact that Tom Jolin has had on our community. We owe him the deepest gratitude for his tireless service.”
Before helping to form HABPI, Jolin served on the Physical Fitness Taskforce for Healthy Adams County. He realized that a separate organization was needed to promote and develop multiuse trails and infrastructure to make it safer for residents and visitors to walk and bicycle in the county. Jolin formed partnerships with numerous county organizations to promote active transportation and secure grants and donations for development of trails and infrastructure.
Jolin has worked hard to get residents, especially children, more physically active so they would not fall victim to obesity, a chronic problem in our community and beyond. His partnerships with the National Park Service’s Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program, the Borough of Gettysburg, and the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources eventually led to development of the Gettysburg Inner Loop (GIL) trail system. Jolin worked tirelessly to help the Borough get the grants needed to create the GIL.
As HABPI’s founding president, Jolin taught other HABPI board members how to secure funding and participated in numerous community events to explain HABPI’s mission and accomplishments. He developed fruitful partnerships with the Gettysburg Schools, WellSpan, Destination Gettysburg, the Robert C. Hoffman Endowment Trust, and Rotary, among others. He was a frequent participant in meetings of the Adams County Transportation Planning Organization and often met with the Adams County Commissioners and staff of the Adams County Office of Planning and Development, seeking opportunities for active transportation in the county.
Contact: Lex McMillan, lmcmillan49@gmail.com, 610-207-1674