Friends of Holliston Trails Organizes
Hello all,
My name is Marc Rosenfeld and I am organizing the Friends of Holliston Trails group (the “Friends”) to benefit the Rails to Trails[*] project in town.
The Friends will be tasked with raising money and community awareness for the Holliston Trails Committee (the “Committee”). The Committee is a group of dedicated local volunteers, appointed by the Board of Selectmen, who have been working on making this project a reality for over 14 years. To date the Committee has secured the rights to the entire rail bed through Holliston. Some portions of the Trail are already owned by the Town, some are in the process of being purchased, and some are being leased with an option to purchase in three years time.
There is growing recognition of, and excitement for, this project within the Town. The Friends need to organize quickly to capitalize on the Committee’s recent success. To that end I have established three primary goals for this group.
Establish the Friends of Holliston Trails as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. I am looking for an accountant to help with this process. A 501(c)(3), though a non-profit, is still technically a corporation. As such it must be registered at both the Federal and State levels, must keep detailed records of income and expenditures, and must file tax returns.
Develop a centralized Web presence. The Committee currently has a sub-page on the Town of Holliston site as well as a Facebook page but lacks a centralized portal to post information and accept contributions. I have secured www.hollistontrails.org for this purpose. We need someone to develop this site as well as someone to facilitate its hosting.
Bring more Friends into the fold. This is something everyone who reads this letter can do. Please share this information with your friends and urge them to send an email to hollistontrails@gmail.com with their home as well as email addresses. I ask that you take a moment to do this as well, it is critical that we have current contact information to effectively disseminate information both physically and electronically.
Once we are established we can launch our first Annual Fund campaign which can be bolstered through community based events such as golf tournaments, races, social functions, etc… We will need organizers and volunteers for each of these opportunities.
This is wonderful project and a great opportunity to be involved in something that will add tremendous quality of life and value to our Town. Please let me know if there is a special way you would like to help, from picking trash and clearing debris to organizing events and soliciting funds. There is a place for you to contribute.