Displaying items by tag: ijams playscape

Grayson Subaru presented a check for $45,550 from Subaru of America’s 2025 Subaru Share the Love Event to Ijams Nature Center in June. Funds will help expand the Ijams Nature Playscape at Grayson Subaru Preserve and the Mead’s Quarry Lake swim area. Pictured from left are Ijams Board Member Matthew Kellogg and his son, Louis, Ijams staff member Ben Nanny, Ijams Board President Carl Van Hoozier, Jr., Grayson Marketing Manager Dan Moyers, Ijams Board Member Joseph Mack, and Ijams staff members Leigh Feld, Amber Parker, Mackenzie Faust, Autumn Allman, Brandy Cox, Sarah Brobst, Kylie Preston, Paige Crane, Ray Griffin, Madeline Harper, Jupiter Istarwind, and Madison Watson. Ijams Nature Center

KNOXVILLE — Grayson Subaru recently presented a check for $45,550 to Ijams Nature Center to continue its work to expand the Ijams Nature Playscape at Grayson Subaru Preserve and improve the Mead’s Quarry Lake swim area.

The local retailer chose the nonprofit nature center as its hometown charity for Subaru of America, Inc.’s (SOA’s) 2025 Subaru Share the Love® Event. From Nov. 15, 2025, to Jan. 2, 2026, Subaru and its retailers donated a minimum of $300 for every new Subaru vehicle purchased or leased at participating retailers nationwide to several national charities and a hometown charity chosen by each retailer.

This is the third consecutive year that Grayson Subaru has selected Ijams as its partner for this event and the sixth year overall. The funding Ijams has received through the program since 2023 is helping to create Phase 2 of Playscape and will add other features to the swim area.

“The Grayson Subaru family is so proud to participate in the Subaru Share the Love Event each year,” Grayson Marketing Manager Dan Moyers said. “Subaru fans are a diverse bunch who come together on one thing: They strongly believe in giving back and making a difference in their community. This gift reflects their devotion, and we always look forward to seeing how the Ijams team will transform these areas with their help.”  

“Words cannot express how grateful we are to our friends at Grayson Subaru for choosing Ijams to be their hometown charity,” Ijams CEO Amber Parker said. “Each year, we’re stunned by their generosity, as well as the generosity of their customers and Subaru of America.

“I’ve always said that ‘teamwork makes the dream work,’” she said. “All of these partners make dreams come true. Thanks to them, children will have another safe place to play and explore nature, and our visitors will have more access to the lake at Mead’s Quarry."

For the past year, the Natural Resource Management team has worked with the Education team to prepare a new play space on the south side of the Mead’s Quarry parking lot that connects Mead’s Quarry to Phase 1 of the playscape.

-Ijams Nature Center