Ridgewood preservation group seeks new members, fresh ideas
NOVEMBER 25, 2014 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2014, 10:26 AM
BY JODI WEINBERGER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The leadership of the Ridgewood Wildscape Association (RWA) is asking for help.
The decades-old group was revived some years ago by Andy Antista and Ellie Gruber, president and secretary of the group, respectively, and both are now looking to step down from the helm in favor of bringing in new leadership and new ideas.
In a letter that recently went out to the group’s approximately 85 members, the pair wrote, “If the RWA is to continue as the guardian of the 10 open spaces, it needs a few people to step up and take the reins of the association. The commitment of time is minimal. The rewards are tenfold.”
RWA was founded in the 1970s by a small group of residents – namely Barbara O’Brien, John Rosengren and Laura Yingling – but lost the majority of its almost 300 members and its guiding force when Rosengren died in October 1999.
Before that, the group drew many participants to activities like cleanups, walks, poetry and photo contests, and film nights. The group had a hand-drawn newsletter and pamphlet along with buttons and other promotional material.
Since its revival, Gruber and Antista have been able to plan about half a dozen big cleanups, but the other activities had low participation numbers and were eventually canceled, though Antista still leads walks now and then and does educational trips with the Scouts through many of the parks and trails.
https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/ridgewood-wildscape-in-search-of-new-members-1.1140921