Fun Indoor Ride to Support BCRT!

 Events, Funding  Comments Off on Fun Indoor Ride to Support BCRT!
Sep 242015
 

Saturday, October 17, 2015 from 4-5 pm

Please join us on Saturday, October 17 for an exciting and energetic indoor charity ride at CycleBar in Wellesley. This ride will benefit the Bay Colony Rail Trail Association (BCRTA). Continued funding is needed for the installation of signs, fencing, kiosks, benches and road crossing improvements for the Needham corridor and 100% of funds raised will go towards making these improvements.

CycleBarLogo1CycleBar Wellesley is the Boston area’s original indoor cycling studio. Since 2005, CycleBar has been providing an array of spinning classes in their state of the art studio. Bill Pryor, co-founder of CycleBar and an abutter of the trail, will be our instructor. After the class, we will have refreshments and hear the latest news on the trail construction.

We are asking for a minimum donation of $20 from each rider. Donations can be made through the link at the top and bottom of this page, or at CycleBar on the day of the ride. For more information on the event, please contact Andrew Pittman. All riders will need to sign a release of waiver at this page on the Cyclebar site prior to the ride.

If you’d like to support the BCRTA but will be unable to attend the event, you may use the BCRTA website to do so. We appreciate your support!

We hope to see you Saturday, October 17 at 4 pm!

 

Remarkable News: The State Steps Up

 Funding, News  Comments Off on Remarkable News: The State Steps Up
Jan 152014
 

Last night at the Needham Board of Selectmen meeting, our state representative Denise Garlick announced that the state had evaluated our request for funding the trail more closely, and determined that we qualified for the full $70,000 originally requested.

dgarlickIn November, Rep. Garlick received preliminary word that the State would fund $40,000 of our request. However, at the Ways and Means Committee meeting on this subject, it was determined that the project is well structured and the needs clearly defined, so the State actually increased the amount it would contribute to our project.

This is incredible news: it means that we are at 92% of our goal – within $18,000. This provides enough confidence that we can begin planning for the trail project itself, as early as this summer.

There is still more to do, of course, and the trailheads at High Rock and Charles River Streets would add considerable value, once we identify additional funding.

But in the meantime, thanks to Rep. Garlick, who has been steadfast in her support of the project, we are within spitting distance of getting the trail started!

Fresh City Steps Up

 Funding  Comments Off on Fresh City Steps Up
Dec 222013
 

Here’s a chance to enjoy a meal out, buy a great gift, and support the rail trail at the same time.

Our friends at Fresh City on Needham St. in Newton have made two generous offers to Bay Colony Rail Trail supporters:

Thinking Fresh Gift Card Sales: Buy gift cards at Fresh City Newton and 20% of the gift card purchase will go to the Bay Colony Rail Trail. You can buy a gift card from Shawn Lander, General Manager, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 1-9 and Saturdays from 11-9. Bring the attached coupon with you, so Fresh City will have a paper trail of the number of people participating in this promotion.

Fresh City Newton Event on Monday, January 27: Bring the coupon to Fresh City Newton on Monday, January 27, and 15% of the sales from people using the coupon will go to the Bay Colony Rail Trail. The promotion applies to dine-in and take-out.

Please note the promotions are at the Fresh City Newton Location:

241 Needham Street, Marshall’s Plaza, Newton, MA 02464

You can print out extra copies for your friends or just forward this email along to them.

Fresh City coupons

The bottom line: The more folks that visit Fresh City in Newton, the more they’ll contribute to the rail trail.

October Raffle Results

 Funding  Comments Off on October Raffle Results
Nov 032013
 

Friday afternoon at 5:00, on the steps of Town Hall, under the watchful eye of a select group of observers, Selectman John Bulian reached into the large jar of raffle tickets 12 times, and withdrew 10 third prize tickets, 1 second prize ticket and, finally, the first prize ticket.

Trek72FX-smallThe Trek 7.2 FX bicycle, donated by International Bicycle Center, went to winning ticket #420533, which was held by Megan Kerr of Needham. Congratulations Megan! Second prize, the trainer, went to Jeff Katz. Ten third prizes, BCRT t-shirts, will go to the following folks:

  • Martin Yapp
  • Alecia Domer
  • Russell Cohen
  • Roland Stern
  • Cory and Lisa Rhoades
  • Robert Smyser
  • Brenda Metzler
  • Lynne Rachlis
  • Lisa Bond
  • Scott Muldoon

In all, the raffle brought in $2,978 for the project. And because it was held during the period of  the grant that matches each personal donation, the raffle effectively delivered $5,956 toward the new trail.

Thanks to all for participating!

October Fundraising Update

 Funding  Comments Off on October Fundraising Update
Oct 312013
 

bcrt_progress_10-30-13A mere four days remain on the challenge grant that will double your contribution to the rail trail!

The original purpose of the grant was to spur individual donations to the project. The initiative has had the desired effect, so far 114 people have stepped up to help support the campaign to deliver $8,614 toward what could be called a linear park in Needham almost two miles long.

But there’s still time to contribute, and we have not yet approached the $20,000 maximum matching sum. If you’ve been thinking about joining the growing list of supporters, truly making this a community resource enabled by the community itself, please click the Donate button in the right sidebar before 6:00 pm Monday, November 4. The suggested donation is $100, which will sponsor a foot of the completed trail.

Alternatively, you can send a check to BCRT Needham, PO Box 920560, Needham, MA 02492.

Thanks for the help!

The Path is Getting Clearer

 Funding  Comments Off on The Path is Getting Clearer
Oct 062013
 

Through many discussions with the town and volunteers, the path to completing the rail trail is getting ever clearer. This fall, we’ve gotten over a few important hurdles:

  • The Needham Selectmen have reiterated their unanimous support for the trail, by deciding to bring two articles to the Special Town Meeting in November.
  • The CPC is poised to fund insurance required by the MBTA.
  • The Town Finance Committee has formally provided its support for the two articles.

Assuming the Town Meeting agrees with these recommendations and passes the two articles, then the only thing standing in the way of getting development of Phase 1 underway is raising the funds required for that portion of the project. We are now calling that sum $235,000, which adds $35,000 for the much finer stone dust surface.

The Bay Colony Rail Trail Association has already raised almost 30% of this amount, and has committed to applying it to the Needham project. And now, with support from International Bicycle Center, and the anonymous matching gifts for October, we are beginning to build momentum to achieve the target within the next year.

Please consider contributing this month, where your donation amount will be doubled! It would be great to send a message to the Town Meeting on November 4th.

Print

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

Trailblazers: Off to a Great Start

 Funding  Comments Off on Trailblazers: Off to a Great Start
Jul 162013
 

Trailblazers, the fundraising campaign for the Needham portion of the Bay Colony Rail Trail kicked off its initial, preliminary phase this past week, and in a short time local volunteers and supports have already pitched in over $5,300! This is a wonderful start to the campaign, and a hopeful indication of the broad and generous support we hope to see in Needham.

NeedhamProgressFor more on our campaign, check out Trailblazers: Kicking off the Fundraising Campaign.

We have some detail on the expected costs of the trail, much of it derived from the recent Conceptual Planning and Design Study, done by FST here: The Campaign to Fund the Rail Trail in Needham.

And for an update on our progress, check out the post Tracking Our Progress, or click the chart at right for zoomed in view.

And finally, please consider donating to the campaign using the button in the right sidebar.

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!