RIDE FOR LIFE 2009
Day 4: Thursday, May 14, 2009
On a cloudy, cool, and overcast day, we started by meeting the Wolf family, (their son, JT died from ALS in 2007), and students from North Country Rd. School in Miller Place. Together, with our patients, caregivers, volunteers and friends we walked to the Heritage Park in Mt. Sinai.
At the entrance to the park, we saw an amazing arc created by the Mt. Sinai and Miller Place Fire Departments ladder trucks. An American flag hung from the arc which was created by the extended ladders. This imposing sight, with sirens blasting and the crowd clapping, awaited our arrival.
Christine Pendergast was a wonderful Master of Ceremonies on the stage of the showmobile. She introduced the numerous dignitaries representing the school districts of Mt. Sinai, Miller Place, Comsewogue, along with Brookhaven officials and they addressed the group. This important segment of our day was started on the right note by the Mt. Sinai School choir singing the national anthem. We were pleased and impressed as students from the Mt. Sinai Elementary School, the Middle School, Comsewogue High School, The Three Village School District, and the North County Road School, handed donations to Christine. Their fundraising efforts reflected a variety of ideas from selling ALS paper baseballs, raffle tickets, snacks, wristbands done by the Student Councils, BUTY Club, Outreach Clubs, and classes. The RIDE FOR LIFE family and others were overwhelmed by the outpouring of time, effort and generosity by the schools and their adult advisors.
After the dignitaries and student representatives spoke, Chris gave a beautiful message by mentioning a quote that is written on the side of the Brookhaven Town Hall, “One of life’s greatest gifts is an opportunity to work hard at work that is worth doing”.
Onward we travelled to the Norwood Avenue Elementary School where the students greeted us with unique decorations and loud shouts of STRIKE OUT ALS. We enjoyed the lovely lunch provided by the generosity Mt Sinai’s Better on a Bagel.
With renewed energy we proceeded to our last stop of a busy day, The Minnesauke Elementary School in East Setauket which includes kindergarten through sixth grade The principal, Mrs. Paula Bienia, assistant principal, Pat Essenfeld, and the entire school greeted us on our first visit here with cheers that could be heard all over Long Island. Chris was presented with a generous check for RIDE FOR LIFE and the students listened carefully to his remarks.
What a great day! We didn’t have sunshine overhead but we had it radiating from all the students, faculty members, and others who took time from their busy day to be with us.
