Big Heart, Little Feet
Pat Conaway is a retired teacher who lives in west Natick. He is the founder of Big Heart Little Feet, an organization to help others and leave small footprints on the earth.
In recent years he has organized neighbors, youth groups, and volunteers to clean-up some of the local waterways and trails in over 50 clean-ups. More recently he has established a Trail Work Monday and Wednesdays morning initiative to recruit volunteers to help clean up trails and connect them to the waterways and larger watershed.
Throughout Natick, Framingham, Wayland, and Cochituate State Park he and other volunteers have installed trash barrels and recycle “buddy bins,” at bridges, schools, parks, fields, and trailheads. He is also working with high school environmental clubs at Natick and Framingham HS to involve them in clean-ups, storm drain markings, rain garden projects and other initiatives. He currently serves on the Natick Trails Maintenance Committee, specializing in local trails.
He also coordinates the Natick Earth Day Festival Planning Group and serves on the Wayland Green Team. He was nominated for Mass Recycles “Massachusetts Recycler of the Year Award.” Together with other concerned citizens in Wayland, Framingham, Natick, and Ashland, he has formed the Lake Cochituate Watershed Council.
