Protecting and restoring the Mystic River watershed is a team sport—and we are very lucky to have great volunteers and partners. Every year, MyRWA recognizes some of our great volunteers and partners for their work. Please join us in thanking these community members for caring so deeply for our local environment and all the people who live here.
Ripple Award: Gentle Giant Rowing Club
The Ripple Award celebrates an individual or organization whose work with us ripples out and impacts the broader community. The Ripple Award winner this year is Gentle Giant Rowing Club.
MyRWA staff members Sushant Bajracharya and ShaSha Kingston presented the 2025 Ripple Award to Rich Whelan, Program Director of the GGRC, who accepted the award on behalf of the Gentle Giant Rowing Club.
Gentle Giant Rowing Club (GGRC) is a nonprofit whose mission is to make the sport of rowing inclusive to everyone and to preserve and improve the environment in and surrounding the rivers where they row. Their passion for this mission and their commitment to making the river more welcoming and healthy are infectious, and they have been a long-time partner to MyRWA. GGRC has worked to make the river more accessible, co-hosting two Pride Flotilla events with MyRWA, engaging with youth to get them on the water, and coming to the boat club on many early mornings to open the gates for Canoe Mobile and MyRWA’s annual Herring Run and Paddle event. Whether they’re pulling shopping carts out of the river, cleaning the Malden River trash trap, or rallying people to get out for the first cleanup after winter, GGRC has given so much to MyRWA’s work, and their impact ripples out across the whole watershed.
“GGRC is honored to be the recipient of the Mystic River Watershed Association's Ripple Award,” says Rich Whelan, GGRC Program Director. “The obvious mission of our club is to bring rowing to the communities around the Mystic River watershed, and we do that by not only running programs for adults but by supporting the local communities in providing affordable rowing for youth. Rowers depend on each other to work together and give 100% of their effort with each stroke. It's why we feel we need to do what we can to take care of the Mystic and Malden Rivers.”
The Gentle Giant Rowing Club community on the Mystic 1) rowing, 2) removing tires from the river, and 3) posing with a haul of trash collected from in and along the river.
Volunteer of the Year: Linda Caswell
This year, we recognized Linda Caswell as our 2025 Volunteer of the Year for her outstanding contributions to improving the Mystic River watershed.
MyRWA staff Jennifer Delgado and Karina Ramos present the 2025 Volunteer of the Year award to Linda Caswell.
Linda began her journey with MyRWA 12 years ago as a water quality monitor. Rain or shine, she still samples on the Aberjona River and has retained her enthusiasm for a cleaner Mystic all these years, despite early mornings and harsh, demanding weather. Linda brought this same joy to the air quality fieldwork she volunteered to support in 2023, climbing to the top of roofs in Everett, Malden, and Charlestown once a week to collect data relating to transportation-related air pollution. Linda is also a reliable herring monitor at the Mystic Lakes and a strong fundraising advocate for MyRWA.
Linda contributes to our work in many ways including water quality monitoring and assisting with field work for our air quality project, which often involves visits to rooftop monitors.
WATER QUALITY MONITORS
At our Annual Meeting, MyRWA also recognized water quality monitors celebrating anniversaries of 15, 20, and 25 years. MyRWA’s long-standing water quality monitoring program relies on the hard work of community scientists sampling at sites across the watershed. These volunteer monitors are out in the field all year round, braving the weather to contribute knowledge that guides policy, education, and understanding of the river’s health. They bring infectious joy to the work and have paved the way for MyRWA to become a reliable and trusted organization. Water quality monitors honored included Linda Arnow (15 years), James Jolley (20 years), Bill Eykamp, Bob Paine, Doug Matson, and Roger Wrubel (25 years)
Linda Arnow (15 years)
Bill Eykamp (25 years)
Doug Matson (25 years)
James Jolley (20 years)
Bob Paine (25 years)
Roger Wrubel (25 years)
Congratulations to Linda, James, Bill, Bob, Doug, and Roger, and thank you to all our monitors for paving the way for MyRWA to become a reliable and trusted scientific organization!
