Hi Everyone,
You’ve been getting periodic communications from me because you’re on my “Conservation” list. Some of you have responded and even turned out for various town meetings. None of you have said “stop bothering me with this stuff.” But you’ve also not yet joined the Wintonbury Land Trust. It can’t be the twenty bucks and you’re interested in our work so I’m mystified. It’s actually more important than you might think. Yes $20 helps, but what really matters is what foundations see. Simsbury has seven hundred and sixty members! Makes it easy for The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving to give them over a hundred thousand dollars; there’s a sense of security, stability, and ability. We have ninety members-and we want $100,000 too.
What we have going for us is energy, momentum, and growth: we’ve tripled our membership in the last two years and active members have gone from two to twenty. We’ve landed three grants-one worth $195,000-and fundraising for our first two purchases (our other nineteen parcels and two hundred acres were all donated). We’re identifying important land and going out and getting it. We’re also about to be much more visible with a spring bike ride, garden and art tour (nominate your favorite Bloomfield artist), hikes and trail building days. All done on a budget of less than $5,000 (insurance and stewardship are the big items) with no paid staff. But the numbers matter. Please join today. It can be done easily on our web site wintonburylandtrust.org, or you can call (860-286-0239) or email me. I’m sorry to keep making these pitches-I hope not too frequently-but I’m the Vice President and fundraising is my responsibility.
And here’s a sign-up today bonus: we have a meeting at the Bertoldi/Reski (President and Secretary) house, 52 Duncaster Rd., this Sunday at 3:00 followed by hors d’oeuvres and beer and wine at our house, 59 Duncaster Rd., to celebrate one recent success in particular. We work hard, but we eat a lot of baked goods and have our share of parties along the way!
Hope to see you there.
Chip