COMMUNITY ON-LINE FORUM

Check out the link "Becket-Washington Community Conversation" (down and to your left.) We now have an easy to use online forum, with a series of bulletin boards where community initiatives can be discussed, and folks can swap and barter! (For example, if you have a sofa free for the taking; or you want to barter yard work for baking; or you're looking to trade a treadmill in good shape for a nice rocking chair.)

Our friendly neighbor, Steve Schatz, has generously donated web space on his website www.powerstart.com, and helped get the forum up and running--thanks Steve!

BECKET-WASHINGTON ECONOMIC SUMMIT 2

JOIN US!

Tuesday, April 28th, 7:00 p.m.

at the Becket Athenaeum

Hear about exciting plans for the Barter-Swap Network, advances on the Community Garden, an outline of free Becket-Washington Summer Festival Days, a new idea called Volunteer Dollars, and MUCH MORE!

Help us build in the wonderful momentum of last month's meeting!  Bring ideas, needs, questions, curiosity, enthusiasm, and an appetite!

Serious Refreshments Served

INFORMATIONAL EVENING: KEEPING KIDS SAFE
Tuesday, April 21st, 7:00 p.m. at the Becket Athenaeum

This may sound boring, but don't let the awkward title dissuade you from attending this important event! Learn strategies for protecting children from predators, find out how to get information on registered sex offenders living in your town, and talk about how we, as a community, can best safeguard our children.

Becket and Washington are wonderful, friendly, safe towns to live in! But our kids are part of a much larger world through the internet, and even the nicest of communities can harbor quiet dangers.

This is an adult event, open to parents and all other concerned community members.

Salmon Fry Stocking Volunteers Needed

Meredyth Babcock, who is very involved in the Westfield River Watershed Association, invites community members to help with salmon fry stocking!

The Westfield River Watershed Association needs volunteers to help stock salmon fry in Westfield River tributaries on Saturday, April 11 and Saturday, April 25. The salmon fry stocking is part of the effort to restore Atlantic Salmon to the Westfield River. The fry stocking takes about 4 hours and can be fun for the whole family. Bring water, a light lunch and river boots or waders, if you have them. Meeting time is 8:00 a.m. Meeting place on April 11 is the Commuter Parking lot of Westfield State College and on April 25 is Gateway Regional High School in Huntington. For further information visit our website at www.westfieldriver.org or call Phil Sousa at 568-3982.

Pat Parkins Gardening Talk Tonight

Tonight at 7 p.m. at the Becket town hall there will be a talk on organic gardening for all you garden lovers.  Come with questions, answers, ideas, and gardening stories to share.  I will be explaining step-by-step how to create, maintain, and sustain organic practices in your garden or our community garden.

We will also explore guidelines for the community garden, and start setting up work times.  Don't be bashful!  We are at the ground level of this project that we hope will weave a fine thread of community through participation in a new project for Becket and Washington.  We can make this fun, interesting, social, and bountiful!

Pat Parkins

coyhawk@gmail.com