Bay Colony Rail Trail, Needham

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.

For 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.

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!