Raise all Boats - help a Train help people

My name is Deborah Fischer Stout, President of the Northern Flyer Alliance, Inc. As an organization, we're raising funds so that people can be connected by train to the things that they need:

*Life-Saving medical care

*Jobs that pay the bills

*Education to be who and what you want to be. Were born to be.

*To be able to visit family. There's nothing like visiting family when you haven't been able to.

Unfortunately, some people don't believe trains make a difference in the lives of their neighbors. They don't believe trains perform a service for those who can't otherwise get from Point A to Point B. So we need proof.

Your donation today to Friends of the Northern Flyer Alliance Inc (Friends of NFA) will help fund an Economic Impact Study that will prove once and for all that the Heartland Flyer + Extension (HFE) is good for everyone. Please see the attached photos showing how this extension of an existing service will connect not only Kansas City to Fort Worth, but Chicago to San Antonio. We're talking about over 40 million people!

This is the Service Gap the Heartland Flyer Extension will close. The megaregion map below shows the I-35 Corridor as a megaregion. Forty million people live within this corridor. Closing this gap will be transformational for millions. Many people in local leadership, however, believe trains are a waste of money. This Economic Impact Study will prove once and for all that trains are an economic driver, and the Heartland Flyer Extension will be an economic driver not only for the region but for the nation as a whole.

Quote from Ark City Chamber Vice President from 2009: "I was so devastated when the Lone Star train was discontinued (this reconnection will help to restore part of that long-distance train). I was a single mother of three little ones, and so enjoyed the opportunity to take my children to see their grandparents in Chicago by train. It was just an unsafe, impossible task to travel by car once that train was gone."

Advocacy work on the Heartland Flyer Extension has been ongoing since 2006. Here is a video from 2013 where I am giving a short speech in celebration of the 3-Mayor Letter of Support signed by Kansas City's Mayor, Sly James; Wichita's Mayor, Carl Brewer; and Oklahoma City's Mayor, Mick Cornett. The presentation is in Wichita's Union Station. The people standing behind me right to left are: Matt Zimmerman, (Emporia City Manager), LaVonta Williams (Wichita City Council), Senator Carolyn McGinn, James Clendenin (Wichita City Council), and Scott Wagner (Kansas City, MO City Council).

Job creation, taxes generated, and economic multipliers can all be quantified through a thorough Economic Impact Study. The opportunities for human development this connection will provide are truly immeasurable.

Thank you for your belief in people, and thank you for your treasure!

For more information, go to: https://www.friendsofnfa.com/social-media.html & https://www.northernflyeralliance.com/index.html