June 22, 2022 Update: Friends of the Sandwich Boardwalk and Sandwich town staff will return some of the recovered 455 planks that have been identified to their original donors or their families beginning Thursday, June 23 at town hall.
The Friends and staff will reach out to donors individually to make appointments to pick up their board. The return process will be ongoing as more boards are identified and the donor families are contacted.
They urge donors to have patience, and those who pick up the board must sign a release.
The original story is as follows.
SANDWICH – The effort to return the Sandwich Boardwalk engraved planks to their original donors after January’s harsh storm will wait until construction begins on the new replacement boardwalk, said project officials.
Selectman Charles Holden, a member of the Plank Gang that is spearheading the reunion effort, said that relying on volunteers alone to dismantle the over 1,500 planks to recover the 455 engraved ones was an unrealistic goal.
“But we are committed to creating another opportunity to connect people with planks,” said Holden.
Town officials said they will work with a general contractor to conduct the reunion effort once official boardwalk reconstruction work begins.
Holden asked residents for patience as the recovery process continues.
“We know how important this project is to residents and visitors alike,” said Holden.
“We will continue to work on a strategy for donors to retrieve planks.”
Town officials said that they have already received about 500 communications from residents about the planks, which they will need to take time to respond.
They ask donors to send their plank inscription and email address so that they can reach out to them as the effort continues.
They also asked donors to not attempt to remove their board if it is still secured to the existing boardwalk, as a separate effort will be conducted to do so later once the boardwalk is rehabilitated.
The email address created for the project is [email protected].
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