b'C H A P T E R S E V E NActually, FCW had made dollar awards to individual students for a few years before 99. Named the Alice Hiscock Grants, they honored an extraordinary cimen of the town. Among longtime residents, her story is legend. Moving to Chatham in 1952, Mrs. Hiscock was tapped almost over night to serve on the Planning Board; she was active on that stage for fifteen years. She also put in 20 years on the Conservation Commission. When she died on the first day of spring in March 2001, she was known in every corner of the community as a tireless, fearless advocate of all ways of conserving and shielding the environment.6Unfortunately, the Hiscock Grants withered on the vine. Then, at the June 1999 FCW board meeting, an effort came to life to restore them as a new species. A budget measure for the next year included this item: .the addition of monies for special projects to be called the Hiscock Grants for environmental outreach. The motion carried unanimously. (As a backdrop, at this time, as FCW directors knew, Friends of Pleasant Bay (FPB) was giving money to schools for environmental projects. It was an enterprising investment in the future.)By October 99, FCW directors Ilene Bendas and Pat Tarnow had stepped up the pace on instituting an education-grant proposal for Chatham schools. They had met with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Vida Gavin and others. What were the school systems needs in environmental instruction? What could teachers do on topics pertaining to the waterways of the Town? As a model, there were those existing FPB grants.Very soon the FCW concept had headway. Mrs. Bendas and Mrs.Tarnow talked further with teachers and FPB people, then drafted an application form. When the Friends board convened in January 2000,Mrs. Bendas reported that a grant of $3,000 could be made that spring for activities in the school year 2000-01.Her fellow directors, reacting warmly, approved the money without dissent. Shortly after, grantScience teacher Jean Avery of Chatham High packets went to all Chatham teachers,School, concentrating on a class experiment, against a return deadline ofwon the first FCW education grant in 2000.April 1,2000. It was to help her refine the six-year-old Frost Fish Creek Water Quality project.108'