President’s Letter
Happy Spring to all of our members, volunteers, supporters and friends. Our major fund-raiser of the year, the 15th annual Trails in Motion sponsored by St. Francis Hospital on June 2nd is coming up. Help us to support the trails on our 20th Anniversary!
Yes, twenty years. It seems unlikely that such an amount of time has passed. The Farm-ington Canal Heritage Trail is built in the Valley, the River Trail is substantially com-plete (up to RT 44) and the FVTC has programs in place to keep them clean, provide helpful amenities and provide for repairs. We are dedicated to the safety, education and happiness of every trail user. With your support we have an operating budget that has been averaging over $40,000 a year, with 94% going exclusively to trail programs.
The far-seeing group that started it all was led by our founding president, Preston Reed of Farmington and Len Tulisano of Simsbury. Some of the original key members of that group included Steve Noble (still our invaluable treasurer), Bob Thompson, Mike Schloss, and Deb and Ron Lilly. Past presidents include Jim Sage and Dwight Weed. So many people contributed to the success of the trails over two decades that it is impossi-ble to list them all. To all board members and officers past and present, our sincere thanks. Most of all, our thanks go to all of our volunteers and members who allow us to do what we do. In fact, in our largest all-volunteer project to date, over 175 volunteers showed up for our Clean-Up Day on April 15th. Old friends and new faces confirmed our ever increasing vibrancy as a volunteer organization.
