SPECULATOR — A solid foundation is vital to a building. It is the base that allows floors, walls and roof to stand true and square.
When a foundation falters, the building soon falters too. That is the dilemma facing Lake Pleasant Museum, and the reason for a fund drive to pay for a new foundation.
NEWCOMB, NY – The Adirondack Park Institute is pleased to announce that local businesswoman and philanthropist Caroline Draper Lussi will be awarded the 2021 Frank M. Hutchins Environmental Education Leadership Award at its Annual Awards Gala on September 17, 2021, 5:00-6:00 p.m.
WAITSFIELD, Vt. — The Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) will auction off two birchbark canoes this summer: one built by Henri Vaillancourt and the other by the craftspeople of the Maniwaki Reserve in Quebec.
The Board of Trustees of
SAGAMORE INSTITUTE OF THE ADIRONDACKS
Invites you to a
VIRTUAL GALA & BENEFIT
Wednesday, April 28 – May 5
In physically-distanced support of
GREAT CAMP SAGAMORE
Opening of Silent Auction & Toast – April 28 at 7:00 pm EDT
Remote “Live” Auction – May 5 at 7:00 pm EDT
With more lined up in between
Are you a climber looking for a challenge to get you ready for the spring climbing season? Are you a hiker trying to avoid the trails during shoulder season? Or are you just looking for something fun and safe to do during a global pandemic?
By Daniel Way
As the dismal year of 2020 circled the drain in the waning months of summer, the tremendous impact of the COVID pandemic was being felt throughout the country, including the Adirondacks. Even the League of Extraordinary Adirondack Gentlemen, our tongue-in-cheek group of men of a certain age who enjoy an annual outing within the Blue Line found it hard to convince our significant others (and ourselves) that we could behave, stay safe, and maintain social distancing while having fun around a campfire for over 24 hours. In order to justify our continued existence, we needed to think outside the box.
Although the hiking trails and campsites we usually frequented were being heavily used as a welcome escape from the news cycle and the virus, the many non-profit organizations that help local causes were taking a financial beating. In the end we decided to combat the coronavirus’s negative impact on fund-raising for Adirondack non-profit organizations by using our combined manpower in an altruistic fashion. The inspiration for a new agenda came from our senior member Peter Hornbeck who, as he often does, came up with a simple yet clever idea. (Editor’s note: See Dan’s poignant tribute to Pete Hornbeck, who passed away Dec. 26, 2020)
A choose-your-own-ski-adventureThe Barkeater Trails Alliance (BETA) invites ski enthusiasts of all ages and skill levels to participate in the first-ever Jackrabbit Rally to celebrate ski touring, the 35th anniversary of the popular Jackrabbit Trail and founding of the Adirondack Ski Touring Council, which now operates as BETA. Founded in 1986, the Jackrabbit Ski Trail traverses a variety of terrain through Keene, Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Paul Smiths for a total of 42 miles.
Kelly Brush, a Vermont native and former athlete who trained at Green Mountain Valley School was skiing at Collegiate Ski Carnival at Jiminy Peak, Mass., in 2006 when she took a debilitating spill.
She caught a ski edge in the snow, propelling her into a backwards spin that caused her to smash into a lift tower, breaking her back and her ribs, and suffering a spinal cord injury that confined her to a wheelchair for life.
The accident was restricting, but it didn’t dampen her energy and her desire to help those who were similarly afflicted in accidents of their own. Kelly Brush started the Kelly Brush Foundation, and dedicated her life to raising awareness for the injured and raising money to address skier safety.
The Oswegatchie Educational Center on Long Pond Road in Croghan, NY will be offering its first Mega Duck Dash & Dining Hall Fundraiser, to take place at noon on Sunday, October 25.
The fundraiser is to celebrate the construction of a new dining hall, which was started in September 2019. The construction of the hall finished 2 months early. But due to Covid-19 and the consequential shut down of the Oswegatchie Educational Center’s Summer Camp program, they lost 9 months of operation, and need funds to wrap up the project. This means that for the first time ever, Oswegatchie is adding a fall rubber duck race to its popular annual springtime AdironDuck Race.
Todd Lighthall, the Executive Director of the NYS FFA Foundation says “The AdironDuck Race is about sending kids to camp, but the Mega Duck Dash is about providing them a dining hall that can safely handle the volume of campers we are hosting.”
The Mega Duck Dash will happen online at noon. Each duck will be $50, with a grand prize of $5,000. Ducks may be sponsored up till the day of the race at noon.
All proceeds from this event benefit the Oswegatchie Summer Program Fund, which provides youth scholarships and funds for improvements to the summer program. To adopt a duck, visit https://www.adironduckrace.com and tune into Facebook on October 25 to catch the race. For more information, contact (315) 346-1222.
Craigardan invites you take part in their fourth annual Harvest Celebration fundraiser, which will be held online this year.
Based in Elizabethtown, Craigardan is a community educational center at the intersection of art, ecology, food and farming.
Yearly, with help, Craigardan raise almost $30,000 each year for their interdisciplinary program in the Adirondacks. They work hard to support artists, farmers, chefs, writers, scholars, and craftspeople in the community and around the country.
For this year’s “Dinner (not) in the Field,” organizers have created a menu of giving options, which you can visit by clicking here.
Originally planned as a weekend-long in-person gathering of the Crua Community at Paul Smith’s College in New York’s Adirondacks, Werifesteria 2020 has been shifted into a worldwide virtual camping experience that you can do from anywhere Sept. 4-6. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Paul Smith’s College Climate Fellowship Program.
Registration is now open at https://www.cruaoutdoors.com/pages/werifesteria.
Guests will be encouraged to go camping in their backyard or at their favorite local camping spot. Those who share images and video from their experience on the event Facebook page will be entered into a drawing to win a Grand Prize Werifesteria 2021 VIP Experience at Paul Smith’s College among other Crua Outdoors prizes.
Orgs launch program to deliver farm-fresh food packages
AdkAction has partnered up with the Hub on the Hill in Essex in order to launch an Emergency Food Packages Project (EFP) to assist local families who may be struggling due to the coronavirus. Every EFP contains a week’s worth of fresh, pre-prepared meals delivered directly to families. The organizations’ goal is to provide 100 boxes of food each week over the next 10 weeks. A total of 1,000 packages, supplying 15,000 meals – all for free.
Each EFP contains eggs, bread, apples, healthy snacks, yogurt, greens, granola, soup, and two large trays of frozen entrees. The food distributed is purchased from local farms, and prepared and delivered by local labor provided by Hub on the Hill. Families and individuals in need are being screened by partner agencies and local organizations with a history of supporting those who need food.
EFP’s have a $55 production fee but are provided free to families in need. A $7,000 grant provided by the Adirondack Foundation’s Special and Urgent Needs Fund launched the project. AdkAction has also created a online fundraising page to help reach the overall goal. Over $30,000 was raised in the first 24 hours, enough to support the first 545 EFP’s, with a total of $55,000 needed to support the creation and delivery of 1,000 EFPs.
For more information and to contribute to the fundraiser, please visit this link: https://emergencyfoodpackages.funraise.org/
AdkAction has partnered with BOCES, United Way and local food pantries to identify families in need. More about AdkAction and/or to refer an individual/family in need of food aid: https://www.adkaction.org/
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