SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Nation — Burning Man contributes $100,000 to charities
RENO, Nev. â Organizers of the annual Burning Man festival in northern Nevada’s Black Rock Desert announced nearly $100,000 in contributions Friday to a variety of charitable, art and service groups.
The money is in addition to $35,000 Burning Man participants raised at this year’s event for victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
âAs an organization that is committed to art and community, Burning Man is pleased to support the charitable endeavors of our neighbors in northern Nevada,â? said Marian Goodell, a spokeswoman for the Black Rock City LLC, host of the event.
The money raised through ice sales and fundraising efforts at the counterculture festival will go to organizations in Washoe County, neighboring Pershing County and the San Francisco Bay area.
It’s more than twice as much as Burning Man donated to charities last year, bringing the total donated since 1998 to nearly $300,000.
More than 35,000 people attended last fall’s festival that has been held in the desert 120 miles north of Reno for the past 16 years. It began on a beach in San Francisco in 1986.
Recipients of this year’s donations include:
Nevada Museum of Art, Nevada Outdoor School, Gerlach Medical Clinic, Reno Crisis Call Center, Friends of the Black Rock, Gerlach High School, Gerlach-Empire Senior Citizens Palace, Gerlach Volunteer Fire Department, Gerlach General Improvement District and the Empire 4-H club.
In addition, Burning Man organizers recently finished restoring the historic water tower in Gerlach as a gift to the town and contributed $800 raised by collecting aluminum cans at the festival to the Gerlach High School Student Council.
Burning Man also now provides free wireless Internet and technical support to Gerlach’s residents.
Larry Harvey, founder and executive director of Burning Man, said several Burning Man participants recently traveled to Biloxi, Miss., to help rebuild a Buddhist temple destroyed by the hurricanes.
âVolunteering and community service isn’t something that our participants do for just a week at Burning Man. It’s something they do all year, and the hurricane efforts are a good illustration,â? Harvey said.
