Volunteers at Hemlock Hall. (Photo provided — town of Long Lake)

The community of Long Lake and the Indian Lake hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake suffered extensive damage earlier this summer after a brutal storm triggered flooding that wiped out critical infrastructure, including highways, bridges, utilities and dams. Friends and neighbors responded swiftly to help each other out, making sure people were safe, clearing debris, bringing food to those in need and launching crowdfunding campaigns.

One of many vital resources for our community has been the Special and Urgent Needs Fund (SUN Fund) at Adirondack Foundation, a source of emergency funding that funneled money to individuals, businesses and organizations quickly and efficiently. Hundreds of people donated to the SUN Fund in the days and weeks following the flooding, and Adirondack Foundation’s staff wasted no time in getting that money into the hands of the people and organizations that needed it most.

In communities as small and tight knit as Long Lake and Blue Mountain Lake, the immediate focus in the aftermath of the flooding was ensuring safety, opening up roads to help isolated people get where they need to go and generally taking care of each other. Community leaders and volunteers communicated the greatest needs to Adirondack Foundation and then turn their attention back to the pressing work at hand — by facilitating donations and grants, the Foundation let the communities focus on what was most important.

In a matter of weeks, more than $175,000 was delivered to our communities, with more to come. The Foundation received over $600,000 in requests to help cover material loss alone — and that figure doesn’t include loss of income for individuals and businesses. Long Lake and Blue Mountain Lake each formed committees to evaluate the requests and direct money where the needs were most urgent. Our community continues to be in constant contact with Adirondack Foundation to communicate existing and emergent needs; the recovery process is ongoing, and it will likely take months for us to accomplish what needs to be done.

We extend our gratitude to everyone who stepped up to support Long Lake and Blue Mountain Lake; it takes a collective effort to recover from a catastrophic event. The Adirondack region is lucky to have a resource like the SUN Fund that can respond when disaster strikes. For people and organizations that still need help, or for those who can make a gift to support future needs, we encourage you to learn more: adirondackfoundation.org/granting/apply-grant/special-urgent-needs.

Our towns are resilient and spirited — we’ve already made tremendous progress, and with continued support we’ll be back and better than ever soon. Thank you.

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Alexandra Roalsvig is the director of Parks, Recreation and Tourism in Long Lake. Christine Pouch is director of Economic Development, Marketing and Events in Indian Lake and Blue Mountain Lake.