10/24/2025: Thanks to all who attended our 37th Annual Meeting this past Wednesday at The Dennis Inn!
At the meeting, we elected Joel Freeman and Mary DelBuono to our Board of Trustees. Joel currently works part-time in real estate law and has served on the Town of Lincoln’s Zoning Board. Joel is involved in DCLT’s Land Committee and recently helped craft and negotiate a walking trail easement through private property adjacent to DCLT headquarters, Not Enough Acres Farm. Mary spent a career in fundraising and communications, most recently for the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Environmental Defense Fund. Mary serves on DCLT’s Membership and Farming Committees.
Up for re-election were DCLT Trustees Chris Foley and Joe Masse. Both were re-elected with unanimous support.
The Trust honored some of those we recently lost, including dedicated volunteer Michael Jensen. A large part of Mike’s role was ensuring the wellbeing of the land around our headquarters. His dedication, support, and friendship will be greatly missed.
We further honored two volunteers for their exceptional service this past year (and before), Volunteer of the Year, Dee Collins and Steward of the Year, Gail Hart. Dee plays a leadership role in DCLT Events, most recently installing the popular “Spooky Stroll” at DCLT’s headquarters. Gail spearheaded and leads DCLT’s water quality monitoring at Chase Garden Creek, one of the most important creeks for shellfish propagation in the Northeast.
DCLT’s highest honor – the Norton Nickerson Conservationist Award – was given to founding DCLT Trustee, now Trustee Emeritus, Connie Bechard. Connie has served the DCLT and the Town of Dennis in a variety of capacities for over 37 years. We will recognize her many contributions in our Year-End Newsletter.
Finally, we welcomed new TerraCorps Members Charly Raymond and Lydia Rheinhart, and we congratulated Leeza Barstein on her recent promotion to Assistant Director.
Congratulations and thanks are due all around. With such an awesome and growing team, we can’t wait to see what the next year has in store for us!
