The little neighbors that could: Kids raise over $5K for hurricane victims

LAKE MOHAWK — Labor Day plans for water skiing, barbecues and beach parties were put on hold while children from Indian Trail in Lake Mohawk ran a marathon lemonade stand for four days over the Labor Day weekend to raise more than $5,000 for victims of Hurricane Katrina. What began as a Friday morning project quickly drew such an enthusiastic response from the community that the Lanyi, Sikorski, Reid, Reading, Opdyke, Dermody and Cerra families took turns keeping the lemonade stand operating from Friday morning through Labor Day afternoon. The stand, located at the entrance to Indian Trail on West Shore Trail, raised over $800 on the Friday after the hurricane struck, $900 on Saturday, and over $1,000 on Sunday, when news of the success of the lemonade stand was being announced on WSUS.FM. Many of the drivers, joggers and bicyclists who stopped to support the kids' efforts contributed $10, $20 or more. Nothing, however, prepared the Indian Trail kids for the generosity of the Lake Mohawk Ski Hawks after their end-of-the-season Labor Day show. The Indian Trail kids began their final day of fundraising with just over $3,000 already collected and a total goal of $4,000. The Ski Hawks team had "passed the hat" among the audience for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and raised $800. In addition, after they held their regular "50-50" raffle, usually used to help defray the costs of equipment and travel for the Ski Hawks, the winner donated the winnings to the victims of the hurricane, and the Ski Hawks did the same. After the show, all the children on the Lake Mohawk Ski Hawks team walked over to the Indian Trail lemonade stand and donated all the money they had collected, $1139.74. Their contribution put the lemonade stand so far over its $4000 goal that the stand - with a big boost from the kids on the Ski Hawks - actually topped $5,000 before the end of the day Monday. All the money collected will be donated to the Red Cross. The Indian Trail families are presently exploring offers for matching contributions from local corporations. Kids who participated over the four-day marathon include Katie and Eric Lanyi, Amanda and Hillary Opdyke, Zoe and Victoria Reid, Madison Sikorski, Allison and Meghan Reading, Liam and Katie Dermody, Thor Dunn, Nicky Martinez, Christina Genovese, Walter and Emily Frimberger, Abbey Howder, Hannah Fagerstein and Casey Intveld.