| President's Message | Moving On | Focus for FY'04 | River Cleanup | | New Members' Meeting | Watershed Enemies |
	Westfield River Cleanup A Dirty Delight by Carl Grobe Member of the Board of Directors, and Chair of the Cleanup Committee A beautiful fall morning greeted volunteers at our annual Westfield River Cleanup on Saturday, October 19. This year, we organized cleanups in two locations: our usual cleanup in Westfield centered at the River Walk, and a second meeting site in Huntington. More than 100 volunteers turned out to collect debris at the two locations! A heart-felt THANK YOU is in order to all of our volunteers and organizers! We removed approximately 150 garbage-bags full of debris from the river and its banks that included glass, bottles, cans, paper, wood, discarded clothing, and many other types of trash. In addition, a number of tires, pieces of furniture, a derby car, several car doors, and the remains of a metal drum were removed from the area. Our volunteers also returned with a few pairs of damp socks, some good old-fashioned mud and grime, and quite a bit of hard-earned sweat. Special thanks are due to the Westfield Department of Public Works, who removed all of the debris collected by our volunteers. Generous donations by the Westfield Wal-Mart provided gloves, trash bags, and drinks for all of our volunteers. In addition, Chad's Good Table Restaurant in Westfield provided two-for-one tickets to our volunteers to thank them for their hard work. Many thanks to all for their support! For the fourth year, our local cleanup was coordinated with the Connecticut River Source-to-Sea Cleanup. This larger effort involves volunteers in a multi-state effort to clean the Connecticut River and its major tributaries. Both the regional and local efforts show that volunteers can make a difference in protecting and preserving our precious river resources. The Westfield River Cleanup is an annual event that takes place in October of each year. If you are interested in participating next year, mark your interest on your annual membership application form. We also publicize the cleanup with local announcements in local newspapers, on flyers posted in local businesses and establishments around town, and right here in the Watershed News announcements.
	New Members' Meeting by Kathy Meyer On September 30, board members acquainted new WRWA members with our organization by presenting a slide show of the Westfield River Watershed and explaining upcoming WRWA events. Ten new members attended this program and a few volunteered for the river clean-up and to serve on committees. We look forward to seeing our new members at the symposium and other future events.