Bringing people together in service, friendship, and environmental awareness

I founded Big Heart Little Feet in Natick, MA , March, 2009. The mission of my organization is to help others and leave small footprints on the earth. In recent months I have organized neighbors and volunteers to cleanup some of the local waterways and trails in my hometown, Natick. In just a few months, I have established a Trail Work on Tuesdays and Thursdays mornings recruiting volunteers to help clean the plastic bottles for recycling, paper, glass and large items like rubber tires, couches, vacuum cleaners and large metal containers. Throughout Natick I have installed trash barrels and recycle "buddy bins" plus walking stick "cribs" along roads, bridges, parks and trailheads. I am, also, working with high school environmental clubs in Natick, Framingham and Wayland to involve them in the clean-ups, storm drain markings and rain garden initiatives.
My broader goal is to find ways to initiate increasing collaboration between various town departments in my own town and in the watershed region. In a short time, I have been able to find support from two other watershed groups in my area, the SUASCO and Charles River Watershed. In Natick, I have discovered a miniature superfund site in a wetland area feeding Lake Cochituate. It has been there for many years. Sadly I have discovered that town departments act separately, rather than joining together to solve these environmental problems. I want to find ways to connect these groups for the betterment of the entire community, bringing all age groups together to form a more strategic and collaborative approach. That is the bigger mission of my organization.