When One Square Mile of Hope committee chairperson Connie Perry was asked to describe the event in a single word, without hesitation she answered, “Grateful”.
“I’m grateful for the tremendous participation and for all our volunteers and the effort they put forth. And I’m grateful that despite the power outage and the challenges it presented, we were able to pull off the event,” Perry said.
She described a contagious atmosphere of giving throughout the day as participants, moved by the small community’s determination to raise money for the worthy breast cancer cause, pitched in to help folks launch and get in and out of boats.
In the midst of it all, Perry was simultaneously setting up people with boats at her nearby Frisky Otter Tours.
“We had boats, life jackets and paddles donated by Tickner’s Moose River Canoes, Palmer Point, Payne’s Boat Livery, Adirondack Woodcraft Camps—and Cortland’s Camp Huntington donated boats for use by students from Utica College. It was a heartfelt and sincere effort,” she said.
The lack of power made registration difficult and slow, Perry said.
And to make matters more complicated, once the floating raft of approximately 1,925 boats was assembled and committeeman Mitch Lee, situated in the sheriff’s boat, was ready to announce the countdown for participants to raise their paddles, he found that the boat battery was dead.
“At that point it was difficult to convey to people the timeline and Mitch had to do everything by word of mouth,” Perry said.
But ultimately the event was a true success, not only because it was record-breaking, but because nearly $65,000 was raised for breast cancer research.
“At the end of the event, people approached me and said how touched they were. Many were breast cancer survivors with tears in their eyes who said thank you. That’s what it was all about,” Perry said.
Perry attributes the event’s success to the “good old Adirondack can-do attitude.”
Many people said they were so impressed that this tiny, little town could put on such an event with so much heart,” Perry said.
