Mendon Foundation Announces New President – January 2025

Mendon Foundation, Inc., a conservation organization providing an avenue for people to preserve, protect and promote the rich natural green spaces found in the Town of Mendon and adjacent communities, has named Brad Carlson as its President effective January 1,2025.  Brad joined the Mendon Foundation in March 2024 as Land Trust Property Director and Scout Liaison.  Since that time Brad quickly made a positive impact by spearheading a team of volunteers to survey and make Read more…

Annual Appeal – January 2025

January, 2025 Dear Friends, With the holiday season just past, we at the Mendon Foundation want to express our heartfelt gratitude for your continued support, which makes our work possible. Our mission is to nurture and protect the rich natural open spaces in the Mendon, Honeoye Falls, and Rush communities while fostering opportunities for education and recreation. Our organization relies on the generosity of friends like you to keep this mission vibrant and thriving. We Read more…

Mendon Foundation Land Trust Property Signage – November 2024

This Fall the Mendon Foundation designed and purchased new signage to be used consistently around the perimeter of all of its Land Trust Properties.  Using GPS survey software, teams of volunteers spent numerous days on all of the Mendon Foundation properties to install the signs.  These new signs reflect standardized rules for each of the properties so that the Mendon Foundation can assure that these beautiful green spaces can be maintained for everyone to enjoy.  Read more…

Taylor Road improvements – October 2024

The Mendon Foundation’s team of volunteers spent numerous workdays over the last month making improvements to its Taylor Road Land Trust Property.  Scouts from Honeoye Falls’ Scouts BSA Troop 410 also volunteered for a workday on the property as a community service project.  The significant volunteer efforts primarily focused on leveling and seeding the entrance trail, removing numerous fallen Ash trees, replacing a large drainage culvert and removing an old dilapidated wooden fence.  The Mendon Foundation Read more…

Black Diamond Races – September 2024

Sunday August 25th marked the 13th anniversary of the Mendon Foundation’s Black Diamond races.  Over 150 runners gathered in Mendon on the Lehigh Valley Trail to participate in this year’s events. As in past year’s two races were run simultaneously including a half marathon and a 5K run. Volunteers throughout the community gathered in the early hours of the morning to assure the course was set up and ready for the event. Water stations and road crossings were manned, Read more…

Sibleyville Nature Reserve improvements – August 2024

The Mendon Foundation has been busy this Summer with a couple of improvement projects on its 46-acre Sibleyville Nature Reserve.  Members of our community, as well as visitors from outside our community, utilize this beautiful green space daily nearly year-round. For this reason, we purchased thirty-three (33) tons of crushed stone to improve the Reserve’s parking lot located off Plains Road. We also have blazed a new short trail in the front of the Reserve Read more…

2021 Year End Letter / 2022 Fundraising Appeal

Dear friends, neighbors, and outdoors lovers, Happy new year! I hope 2021 brought improvement to your life. There is no doubt that many folks are struggling as we continue to wade through the wake of our pandemic, but one thing that most people seem to agree on is that time spent outdoors has been a godsend. The past 24 months have enabled us all to reconnect with nature, and that is a good thing. Our Read more…

New Book! Rails To Trails: Rochester Junction Then and Now

At long last, our 2021 book, Rails to Trails: Rochester Junction Then and Now by Diane Ham & Charles Woolever is available for purchase. It’s a beautiful 182-page softcover book with 127 photos, 51 color pages, 7 informative maps, and a full index. Proceeds benefit The Mendon Foundation. In the works for almost a year, and with contributions from many people in our community, this is the first book about the history of Rochester Junction Read more…

The 2021 Black Diamond Express Races Were a (Wet) Success!

On Sunday, August 29th, we hosted a record 176 Half Marathoners and 52 5K’ers on the Lehigh Valley Trail for the in-person 10th Annual Black Diamond Express Races, which were our first since 2019. These numbers don’t include Virtual Runners and no-shows, which brought us to 289 total participants. Our returning runners comprised 30% of the field, which is an outstanding achievement, and a testament to how people feel about these races. With official recorded Read more…

Black Diamond Preview Run!

Rochester Running Company / Robinhood Racing are hosting a preview run TONIGHT (7/16). For details see: https://www.facebook.com/events/493916248565424/ Join us for a preview run of the Black Diamond Express course. We are running max 6 miles.This run is an out and back.We will have pizza and beers post run if people are interested in hanging around.All paces welcome. Also, runners/walkers are welcome to go farther or shorter than 6 miles due to the out and back Read more…