Checking in at New Hope with Marcia Szymanski, Director
When I started working with the non-profit organization Ten Mile River Watershed Council to help them create a new Easy Walks book with me, I searched for grants to help support our efforts. A lot of grant making entities are not interested in helping fund the creation of books. Yup, expressly so–not interested. Each organization has specific requirements. No problem. I finally turned to grants I was familiar with and reached out to the towns in MA included in the book we were working on. In the end, everything is local, as we know.
I was advised that we would do well to write into the grant a request for monies to actually print up the books. I figured if we designated books to be used by underserved populations, that would be a plus. In addition, I had at least one organization in mind that had already expressed interest in what we were doing.
Wth copies of the books finally in hand, we have begun the work of getting the word out about its publication, but also finishing up the work to complete the grant.
And so with great joy, we brought a whole pile of books to share with the director of New Hope in Attleboro, a non-profit working to end sexual and domestic violence. Marcia, the director, was excited to receive the books, and told us that she has a new staff member who is working to create more outdoor experiences for their clients. We look forward to our books being tools that open up an outdoor world where people can find healing.
Thanks for all the Massachusetts Cultural council members who work so hard to manage these grants. And thanks especially to the cultural council members from North Attleboro, Plainville, and Seekonk, MA. The paperwork will be done soon 🙂
“This project was supported in part by a grant from the North Attleboro, Plainville and Seekonk Cultural councils, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.”
Marjorie
Marjorie Turner Hollman is a writer who loves the outdoors, and is the author of Easy Walks in Massachusetts, 2nd edition, More Easy Walks in Massachusetts, 2nd edition, Easy Walks and Paddles in the Ten Mile River Watershed, and Finding Easy Walks Wherever You Are. Her memoir, the backstory of Easy Walks, is My Liturgy of Easy Walks: Reclaiming hope in a world turned upside down.
Marjorie Turner Hollman 