Bay Colony Rail Trail Needham

Update: September Meeting and Fundraising

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Sep 032013
 

Good morning All, and Happy September!

On this day many gears are reluctantly grinding into place, and this is yet another agenda item to bring to your attention. The BCRT Needham meetings start up this month, specifically next Tuesday, September 10th, at 7:15, at the usual room in the Public Service Administration Building on 500 Dedham Ave.

The primary topic will be our fundraising efforts, which kicked off over the summer, and which will hopefully get into a new gear this fall. Focus will be on spreading the word, and continuing the great grassroots funding – we already have 45 donors (many of whom are on this list), and a total of $11,475! This is just a fantastic start, thanks to all of you. Details on our Tracking Progress page. This fall, with this great show of local support, it will be a time when we reach out to local businesses and merchants to ask them to participate in this effort.

The goal is to demonstrate our ability to partner with the town in covering the costs for this wonderful resource. The town remains fully committed and engaged: the Recreational Path is on the Selectmen’s goals for 2014, and there are active conversations between the town and the MBTA about the lease. The expectation is that the lease will be on the agenda for the special Town Meeting in early November, and our ability to raise funds will remove a key concern.

We are also looking to extend the study that was done last spring, so that we can get FST’s professional perspective on the alternatives for extending the trail between High Rock Street and Chestnut Street. As you may recall, the MBTA determined that it wanted to retain the tracks for that section, although that is still subject of the discussions with the town. There are some interesting alternatives to consider, which FST will study and summarize.

I hope on the 10th we can also discuss the promotional video that was proposed a couple months back by Svetlana Vakhutinsky, and put together a plan to get that underway.

Hope to see you all on the 10th! Incidentally, the next meeting will be on October 29th, same place and time of day.

100 Feet of the Trail Blazed!

 Funding  Comments Off on 100 Feet of the Trail Blazed!
Jul 242013
 

Thanks to great participation, and a handful of really generous donations, last night we hit the 100 foot mark on the trail campaign. And with that we’re right around $10,000 raised for the trail – the correlation to feet is not precise due to some generous allocation of foot lengths. For more detail on the contributors, and the progress map, please check our report here, which is updated every day or two.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to contribute yet, now would be a great time to put your foot on the trail (so to speak) and help us to continue our momentum. Just click the Donate button in the right sidebar to contribute online, or send a check to:

Bay Colony Rail Trail Association
Attention Needham Trail
663 Greendale Avenue
Needham, MA 02492

BCRTA is a non-profit recognized by the state and IRS, so your foot (or feet) will be tax-deductible!

Stay tuned for the next phase in the campaign, where we’ll reach out to local businesses to support the project. This effort, which will be called “Pathfinders”, will start allocating segments from High Rock St., and work southwest to meet the individual and family “Trailblazers” who have started at the Charles River and are working their way northeast!

NeedhamProgress072313

BCRT in the Needham Parade

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Jul 042013
 
Kathleen Phelps towing the float

Kathleen Phelps towing the float

We had a great turnout by supporters of all ages at Needham’s Fourth of July Parade today. Anchored by a wonderful improvised float constructed by the O’Connor family, about 25 supporters – ranging in ages from 1 to 82 – walked or biked the distance to build awareness and support for the trail.

Click here for some more photos of the BCRT Needham contingent. Continue reading »

Trailblazers: Kicking off the Fundraising Campaign

 Funding  Comments Off on Trailblazers: Kicking off the Fundraising Campaign
Jul 032013
 
BCRT Needham, Bridge Looking East

It starts here: 8,800 feet to the Northeast is High Rock St. We’ll count donations in one-foot increments from the Needham border.

Starting in July 2013, we are stepping up our efforts to raise funds for the recreational path between Needham Junction and the Charles River. Though we have unanimous support from Needham Town officials, our goal is to fund as much of the project as possible with private donations and grants.

Details on the project costs are provided at Funding the Trail. But the bottom line is that we are looking to raise $880,000 to complete the 8,800 linear feet of the trail.

We are looking to get support from individuals, families, neighborhoods, businesses, merchants and more. To enable this support, we are offering sponsorship of each segment of the trail, one foot at a time. We’re hoping you’ll consider sponsoring one of the following units:

  • $100 for a foot
  • $250 for a stride (an average person’s stride is allegedly 2 1/2 feet)
  • $500 for a bicycle length
  • $1,000 for a bicycle built for two

We will carefully record and proudly publicize each donation, and track the progress by filling in the distance on our Needham Rail Trail Fundraising Map.

To sponsor a foor, a stride or a bike length, please use the Donate button in the right sidebar. We will automatically assign the next segment – say, foot #723 – to your donation.

And feel free to get creative with other units. We’ll even record inches ($8/each), but would be grateful for large units, such as:

  • Cubit (18 inches): $150
  • Smoot (5′ 7″): $558
  • Rod (5 1/2 yards): $1,650
  • Furlong (1/8 mile): $66,000

Thanks for your support!

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