CAROL LEVIN — A number of you have already received correspondence regarding the current status of Friends of Fulflex Field because you generously donated to the project or made pledges to reach our goal.
Our goal has been to conserve the land known as the Fulflex Field as an open green space in perpetuity for the continued use, enjoyment, and benefit of the greater community.
For approximately 2½ years, we have been diligent in our efforts to reach our goal. After our original meeting in December 2005, a core group has been meeting essentially every two weeks. After 32 months of important work, we have decided that we cannot claim success.
Nevertheless, we are proud of our accomplishments. We created an organization, completed a feasibility study, found a nonprofit organization to be our financial agent, organized an important regional forum on land conservation, and contacted individuals, whom we felt shared our goals, for support. We did raise a significant amount of cash and pledges.
We made an offer to purchase the field (and were turned down) and offered to provide maintenance for the field in exchange for its use this season (and were turned down). We explored partnerships with a number of potential buyers of the entire property.
We, however, have not been successful in reaching a level of funding that is acceptable by the current owner.
In good faith, it has become difficult to continue to hold the many individuals to their pledges for such an extended period of time. Without a purchase-and-sale agreement, we were not able to pursue foundation grants and other sources of public and private funding.
Thus, we have announced we are ending our efforts to conserve Fulflex Field and save it for future generations. We wish to thank all of you for your interest and support. We could not have gone on this long without you.
Who knows what opportunities may arise in the months or years ahead? For now, Fulflex Field is still there, still open and green - a welcoming gateway to North Brattleboro!