Katherine Rhodes (L) was inducted into the Rotary Club of Lake Placid NY by past Co-President Heather Perkins.  Katherine is sponsored by Mercy Care for the Adirondacks where she is the Elder Care Manager.  We're very happy to have Katherine as a member of our club and judging from the pictures, she's happy to be on board.  Welcome Katherine!

Today we welcomed NCPR Reporter Amy Feiereisel to talk about community engagement and the ways in which North Country Public Radio seeks to connect with those who work and live here.  Amy defines this process as talking and listening to those in NCPR's service area to create content that better serves them.  This leads to reporting on issues that matter and content which listeners want to interact with.  We were taken through the methodology that goes into preparing a series such as North Country at work http://ncpr.org/work or a listener participation survey to develop a North Country Ice Cream Map.  We also saw a short video of a presenter at a recent Howl Story Slam - a series of events where our North Country neighbors relate a meaningful tale from personal history.  You can't get much more engaged than that.  Hear more from Amy and other NCPR reporters plus uniquely curated music shows at ncpr.org or by downloading the NCPR app from your app store.  

Rotarians Mary Liz and Randy present Lake Placid Central School District's Patricia Damp with a check to support a grade level trip to The Wild Center in Tupper Lake.  Patricia's program offers a funded trip to this world-class museum to stimulate an interest in reading.  The importance of our funding this trip enables all students to benefit from this experience.  It allows for families who could not afford the entry fee not to feel stigmatized by having to be subsidized.  Our Literacy Committee derives the funds for these gifts from events such as our Trivia Nights.  We'll be having a Trivia Night in November - please watch for details.

Stories from behind the badge this morning with Essex County NY Sheriff, Dave Reynolds, a seasoned law enforcement professional.  Policing today is much more than the what's depicted in TV shows.  Changes within society and the law have thrust police into many new roles.  While the Sheriff's Department performs traditional activities such a managing the county jail, civil actions such as evictions and road patrol, there are expanded responsibilities and programs which have caused the 98+ individuals under Reynolds' command to become involved with many social service activities, particularly in managing those who are incarcerated.  Sheriff Reynolds told us that many of the programs he has implemented are being copied by other police agencies in NY State and around the nation.  Today we were introduced to the broad range of activities a sheriff's deputy will deal with daily in a job that carries with it many dangers but can also be quite rewarding.  The Rotary Club of Lake Placid thanks Sheriff Reynolds and the men and women who wear the badge for their dedicated service to the public.

A thank you to Rick and Kate Thompson for hosting our August social.  The rains stayed away to allow us to enjoy good food, good conversation and good music.  

 

Rotarians Charlotte, Stephanie, and Lee were at the Octoberfest themed aid station at this year's Lake Placid Ironman.  Thus the Tyrolean hats. Despite what you may be thinking, nothing stronger than Gatorade was handed out to the athletes.  

Today we had the pleasure of inducting Daci Shenfield as a Companion Member in our club.  Daci stands between Membership Chair & Past President Heather Perkins and Club Treasurer John Huttlinger..  Daci is the daughter of another Past President, Tina Leonard.  Our club has worked closely with Daci and the Lake Placid NY Rotary Foundation in establishing the Tina Leonard Award which is given annually to a student in our school district who has shown the strength to overcome disabilities and challenges in their life.  Welcome Daci!

Our 30th Changeover Event (June 22, 2023) as we thanked the past year's leadership and congratulated our incoming leadership team.  A Paul Harris Fellow Award was presented to past Co-President Harris Semegram.  There's a carousel of pictures from our event playing on the left side of this page.   Good food, lots of Rotary comradery and another evening of good times when the Rotary Club of Lake Placid gets together.   We're looking forward to our Duck Race on September 23rd, many, many informative and interesting speakers, fun social events and of course continuing our strong history of sponsoring and taking action on projects to better our Lake Placid/North Elba community.

 

ur June 15th meeting featured Sue McKinney, a visiting Rotarian from the Uptown Oakland (CA) club. Sue divides her time between the US and Vietnam where she works with the Rotary Vietnam Project to help stop the very serious global issue of human trafficking. We had a very enlightening presentation which included a video which you can see here.  https://youtu.be/OBE-XYzLUjc  Sue told us how people from areas of extreme poverty can be duped into being ensnared into being sold just like a piece of property numerous times over. This is not something that happens in other parts of the world.  Sue said that if you know the code words, etc. we would find that human trafficking exists even here in the Adirondacks.  If you suspect that a person is being trafficked, report it anonymously to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.  

Rotarian Debbie Erenstone and her husband Jeff are principals at Mountain Orthotic and Prosthetic Services.  Mountain O&P is a dedicated supporter of Operation Namaste, a 501(c)3 whose mission is to help determined people achieve mobility by providing tools and support to Orthotic and Prosthetic practitioners around the world.  Jeff travels worldwide as part of his work with https://www.operationnamaste.org/.  Recently Jeff, Debbie and the kids visited Nepal, a nation of scenic beauty and culture that frequently suffers from devastating earthquakes.    Nepal is one such country in need of quality prosthetic care.  Debbie presented a slideshow of the family's trip to Nepal, showing glimpses of the people, their traditions, and of course the Himalayas.  Here are just a few of what our club had the opportunity to view:

Today we welcomed Tiffany Rea-Fisher, Director of the Adirondack Diversity Initiative (ADI).  The Adirondack Diversity Initiative works to make the Adirondacks a welcoming and inclusive place for both residents and visitors while ensuring a vital and sustainable Adirondack Park for future generations.  Tiffany brings to her role as Director extensive experience in the performing arts and organizational leadership.  Approaching her Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) work through the lenses of both the arts and culture, she uses positive disruption through inclusion as a way to influence her work.  While fairly new in her role with ADI, Tiffany has maintained a presence here for many years as the first woman of color to serve as Director of the Lake Placid School of Dance.  In her conversation with us today, Tiffany focused on the opportunity to make the Park a more welcoming environment for all.   https://www.diversityadk.org

Nicholas George, Executive Director of High Peaks Hospice addressed this week's meeting to provide an insight on how hospice offers care that helps the whole family when a terminal diagnosis is received.  End-of-life care is a difficult subject to discuss but hospice provides a team of doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains and trained volunteers to help with the whole range of needs - physical, emotional, social and spiritual.  Under hospice care, the terminally ill are able to fill their time with dignity, in comfort and in the location of their choice, whether it be at home, a nursing facility, or hospital. Hospice services are covered by the Hospice Benefit under Medicare with no copays or deductibles.  No one is refused care due to inability to pay. http://www.highpeaks hospice.org

Saturday May 13 brought 14 Rotarians to the North Elba Recycling Center where a collection point was set up to accept Lithium Ion (Li-on) batteries for recycling.  Over 225 lbs. of batteries were collected! Li-On batteries require special handling to recycle and as such are not included with household waste.  Our club partnered with Redwood Materials for special to ensure safe handling of these batteries in facilities that are set up for this.  It's quite specific so here's something from the EPA to explain further: https://www.epa.gov/recycle/used-lithium-ion-batteries  Thanks to Stephanie, Bill, Bridget, Tracey, Heather, Charlotte, Martha, Hannah, Susan, Lee, Chandler, Sean, John and Greg for volunteering.  

 

Another fun night as Trivia Night returns in-person at the Craig Wood Golf Clubhouse.  MC Sean Donovan kept the players on their toes with some very challenging questions developed and carefully documented by our question selection team.  And once again, funds were raised to support various literacy projects in the Lake Placid / North Elba area.  Congratulations to teams Irish Mafia and Scatterbrains who wound up in a tie for first place.  Rounding out the standings were the Literacy Bombers, Komodo Dragons, and team "Don't Have A Name Yet."  Thanks for playing!

Bluseed Studio's Lisa Crocker joined us today, presenting an overview of the non-profit community arts center in Saranac Lake.  What does BluSeed do?  What doesn't it do.  Operates an art gallery/event space, runs an art thrift store, has studios for ceramics, textile and printing, provides classes and workshops for kids and adults as well as hosts live music and performance events.  So much going on that you should visit their website at https://www.bluseedstudios.org/  On the website you'll find a link to their Bluskies Spring Silent Auction, in progress now through May 6. Click "Read more" for some of the images from Lisa's presentation deck.  And join the mailing list while on their website.

Many boxes were sold to club members and others as part of the 2022 "End Polio Now Tulip Drive."  A thank you to all who contributed and then worked the soil with the tulip bulbs that were purchased.  Now that we're into the Spring season, tulips are starting to appear:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to May Chow on her appointment as Justice for the Village of Lake Placid.  https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2023/04/ex-secret-service-agent-named-lp-justice/  

If the link is behind a paywall, a version of this story has been uploaded to our archive.  Click on the "As Seen In The Lake Placid News" link on our home page.

A tasty Ethiopian feast was held as a fundraiser for our International Service Committee on March 23.  James Beard semi-finalist chef Alganesh Michael prepared spiced beef, curried chicken, curried lentils, shiro, collard greens and injera.   This delicious food was enjoyed by all with one guest proclaiming it "the real deal."  Chef Alganesh zoomed in to talk about her background and discuss the dishes she had prepared.  Paired with several wines (including an Ethiopian variety), it was an enjoyable evening with great conversation.  Truly a different kind of fundraiser and a successful one at that.  Visit chef Alganesh at http://atasteofabyssinia.com  Dinner photo credits Andy Flynn / The Lake Placid News.

We heard from Brian Woods, Exec. Director of the Adirondack Rail Trail Association http://adirondackrailtrail.org who took us through this major all season recreational plan in the North Country.  Built over the former NYCRR trackage from Lake Placid to Tupper Lake, the trail will provide an accessible location for all sorts of activities in a healthy lifestyle.  It's sure to bring new visitors and economic opportunities to the area as well as relieving some pressure on existing trails that are being impacted by overuse.  Brian presented a demo of a local business guide and trail map highlighting things to do and see on the trail as well as businesses in the tri-lake area via this project to further connect our communities.

A glimpse into the scope and activities of the US Secret Service was provided this morning by our guest, retired Secret Service Special Agent Andy Orringer.  Andy took us through the origin of the USSS (to track down and arrest counterfeiters) through its expansion into the protective details of the President and Vice President, candidates for these offices and foreign dignitaries.  The USSS employs about 6,000 people: 3,200 special agents, 1,300 uniformed officers and >2000 technical and support personnel.  We learned about the different types of crimes the USSS investigates and the USSS organizational structure.  Andy was posted to several field offices in the USA and also served as a liaison officer in Canada and other countries.  Andy also answered members' questions as he provided a very informative presentation.  If you'd like to find out more about the Secret Service, sign up for their newsletter https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSSS/subscriber/new?qsp=CODE_RED

 

The mission of the Barkeater Trails Alliance (BETA) is to build, maintain and advocate for a system of community and backcountry trails for ski touring, mountain biking and other human-powered activities in the eastern High Peaks region of the Adirondack Park.  At this week's meeting we heard from Josh Wilson, Executive Director.   Your favorite story poster wasn't at the meeting but using something called the Internet, the best thing to do is refer you to BETA's website for the full story and picture gallery.  Trails through our park don't get there by themselves you know.  So please visit https://www.betatrails.org/, check out their activities and see the ways you can participate.

Coming off a fun virtual trivia contest the night before (raising money for literacy efforts in our area), our club proudly presented a check for $1,500 to Catherine Bemis, Principal of St. Agnes School.  Catherine will be using the funds to order new reading materials to introduce and further enhance student experiences with the joy of reading.  Shown presenting the award are Mary Liz Alexander and Randy Quayle of our Literacy Committee.  We also welcomed back a former club member, Carolyn Walton.  Carolyn briefed us on a program she is developing with area schools to introduce the positive aspects of wilderness experiences via hands-on camping experiences.  Please visit her website (parts of which are under construction) to learn more about what interesting experiences await participants http://www.thewoodsprogram.com  and as featured in the Lake Placid News https://bit.ly/3XprXT8

Our first meeting of 2023 was a busy one.  We welcome Greg McNally as our newest club member and we look forward to his contributions to our many projects.  We also heard from Laura Coffin on receiving an award from the Educational Opportunity Fund and how Laura is restructuring the LP Elementary School reading program to further the joy of reading while improving literacy levels.  Jeff Erenstone presented on Operation Namaste which provides technology and support to deliver prosthetic services to underserved areas of the world.  Learn more at https://www.operationnamaste.org/