More than a social network; a socially responsible network!

Recently, I've received a couple of fantastic notes from river advocates (see the letter from Brian Finstad immediately below). Another example of an ideal outcome came together because of Shannon in St. Paul. She dropped a note to me back in July, with a simple request:

Hi Mike!

I came across your website through googling river clean-up projects in the Twin Cities. I enjoyed reading your site and appreciate the work that you are doing to educate people on cleaning-up and caring for our waterways. I would like to organize a river clean up in the St. Paul area and wondered if you had any ideas for me. I'm coordinating this event for a church in the Grand Ave area... We expect 30-50 people to volunteer for this event. The date we were hoping to do this is 9/12/09. We have access to a large truck and a trailer. Any ideas would be welcome!

I look forward to hearing back from you!

Shannon

Shannon's request specified a part of the south-metro watershed that I am less than familiar with. But thankfully, I knew that the Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR) are more than familiar with the area... so I introduced Shannon, via email, to a few folks at FMR. Turns out that she recognized a couple of those names... and followed-up on that suggestion. And today, Shannon was kind enough to send me a follow-up note today... letting me know that her group had arranged a clean-up expedition to the Vermillion River watershed, with the help of those folks at FMR.

I find it comforting that so many groups in Minnesota are concerned about and working for the protection of so many waterways. When I didn't have the information that someone like Shannon was looking for, it's nice to know that someone at FMR, or the DNR, or Minnesota Waters, or C.R.O.W., or the St. Croix River Association... among all those authentic river stewards, someone will have the answers!