• Pat ConawayNeighbor

  • Natick, MA

Pat Conaway is a former middle school teacher and lives with his wife (also a retired teacher) in West Natick.   After 40 years of teaching he retired in 2008 and formed a small non-profit designed to extend many of the initiatives he developed as a teacher.  That effort (Big Heart Little Feet - helping others and leaving small footprints on the earth) has merged w/ the Lake Cochituate Watershed Council; together they are trying to fire up people at the grassroots level to take better care of the local environment, including all our common spaces, waterways, woodlands, parks, trails and roadways.  They've developed unique outdoor recycling programs which compliment Natick's outstanding recycling initiatives.  Throughout Natick, Wayland, and Framingham they have established nearly 100 "recycle buddy bins" that are placed near outdoor trash barrels and encourage people to put their plastic, glass, and aluminum containers in an appropriate receptacle.  They also initiated the Natick Trails Buddy program which meets every Monday and Wednesday morning and clears, cleans, and maintains the wonderful Natick Trail system.  Recently they have implemented recycling and clean-ups at the Natick Public Housing units at Cedar Gardens and West Hill Park recruiting multigenerational volunteers.  Conaway believes that the local environment is "MIA" (misunderstood, ignored, and abused).  "Relationships have been misunderstood and disrupted.  We're all connected to each other, the earth, and all living things.  We just have to learn how to live together and protect each other.   Everyone can help; simplify and serve.  Ask yourself, your friends and neighbors: what have you done today for your community?  Simple as that."  The 2010 Natick Town Report was dedicated to Conaway for his volunteer efforts to build community and protect the earth. 

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