Complete the Trail Capital Campaign
Vision
The capital campaign for Trail “completion” fulfilled the original vision of the Katy Trail of two fully separate paths that run the entire length of the Trail, plus new entry points, widened bridges, and beautiful new native plantings.
During the Campaign to Complete the Katy Trail, which ran from 2018 to 2020, Friends of the Katy Trail raised $8.5 million from more than 180 donors, including the lead gift of $2.5 million from Lyda Hill Philanthropies and $1 million from the Snyder Foundation.
The campaign projects enhanced safety and increased capacity, access, and natural beauty on the Katy Trail. The construction projects concluded in early 2021 and included:
- A new 1-mile soft-surface path south of Knox Street to Blackburn Street;
- resurfacing of the existing 2.5-mile soft surface from Lyte Street to Airline Drive;
- the new Fitzhugh Staircase entrance at the southwest corner of Fitzhugh Street and the Trail and the Cambrick Plaza entrance;
- widening of the bridges at Fitzhugh and Lemmon Avenue East to allow for two paths;
- new LED lighting; and
- one mile of new native plants landscaping along the new stretch of soft surface.
The Snyder family’s November 2020 $1 million gift took the campaign over the goal of $8 million. Bobbi Snyder and her late husband, Dick Snyder, funded the construction of Snyder’s Union at the Trail in 2009 to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
The late Stacey Snyder, then President of the Snyder Foundation and Bobbi’s daughter, said in 2020, “We are proud to join the Katy Trail’s capital campaign. We believe these improvements to the Trail are essential to the well-being of Dallas, now and in the future, as the city continues to grow and needs green spaces.”
Charlie Shufeldt, President Emeritus of the Katy Trail Board, said, “Thank you to the Trail’s Major Gifts Director, Ann Whitley Wood, who led the completion of the capital campaign, and the campaign committee, which diligently worked for over two years toward this goal: Bonner Allen, Sam Dalton, Rob Little, Bina Patel, Preston Paine, Mark Schachter, Blake Shipp, Ruthie Shor, and Sophie Levy Zuckerman.”
In addition to Lyda Hill and the Snyders, large donors to the capital campaign were the City of Dallas, Friends of the Katy Trail, Lindsay and Blake Shipp, Laurie Sands Harrison, Katy Trail Ice House, Lydia and Bill Addy, the Hillcrest Foundation, the Margot Perot Family, Pollock Foundation, and Amanda and Charlie Shufeldt.
The additional monies raised over the $8 million campaign goal have provided a maintenance fund for the Trail improvements. Major donors to this maintenance fund were the Perot Family, Hersh Foundation, and Karns Family / Local Favorite Restaurants, LLC.
All campaign donors are listed online, and campaign gifts at $10,000 and above have been permanently recognized on the Katy Trail on a campaign donor wall just north of Cambrick Plaza.
Campaign Donors