August 15, 2010

Five youngsters gave a cash gift to East Shore Schroon Lake Association  (ESSLA) to combat Eurasian Water Milfoil (EWM) in Schroon Lake.

On August 14^th at the Adirondack Hamlet Garage Sale five youngsters and parents stopped at the ESSLA booth and inquired about the EWM display. They were highly interested in the real plants floating in basins and were amazed how such an invasive weed could take over a lake and render it unfit for recreation if left unchecked.  They also found out how expensive it is to uproot the plants, one at a time, using divers who hand harvest them.  What happened next is amazing!

That evening the four grandchildren (and one friend) of Jerry and Carol Goldin, spending the weekend at Blue Sky Estates, put on a “Blue Circus” where each of them performed.  They charged admission for the performance and put on their best acrobatic routines to entertain their audience.  At the end of the performance they met to decide which charity out of three they selected should receive a percentage of their proceeds. They wanted to retain some funds to buy a spot light for their planned “next year performance”.  The charities selected were an Israeli Fund, an African Children’s Fund and the Schroon Lake EWM Program.  By democratic vote the Schroon Lake Program was selected.  At 10 AM the next morning the five of them ventured next door and spoke to one of the Milfoil Scout Program leaders.  They explained their selection process following their performance and the percent of the proceeds they wished to donate in the “fight against the invasive weed that is in Schroon Lake”.  They also invited the leaders of the program to view their next circus performance tentatively scheduled for August of 2011.  The offer was graciously accepted as was the cash donation from these five remarkable children.

A photograph was taken of this special group presenting their gift to Ms. Anne Pieper, Fund Raising Chairperson of ESSLA.  Ms. Pieper gave the children a hug and remarked “ Maybe our world is not in as bad a shape as some would lead us to believe.  With beautiful youngsters like these following in our footsteps how can we possibly go wrong?”  These wonderful “kids” are shown in photograph from left to right:  Ella Foukes(6), Ruben Ascoli(9), Levi Shlyankevich(10), Benjamin Ascoli(10), Sophie Foulkes(10).

[foto pending]