Funding Provides New Lift to Access the Main Stage With Heavy Equipment

     CLAYTON — Clayton Opera House performers will soon be able to more easily access the main stage with heavy equipment thanks to a new lift that a $12,500 Community Foundation grant helped purchase.

     Funding enabled the Thousand Islands Performing Arts Fund to purchase the equipment lift, which is expected to be installed in September. The new lift will improve safety during loading and unloading of heavy items for performances. Performers presently bring equipment, some more than 150 pounds, into the venue on a ramp through the front entrance. The new equipment lift will help cut setup times by up to three hours for performers with heavier equipment.

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Retired Bridge Authority Official Supports Employees, Retirees, and their Families

     ALEXANDRIA — A Jefferson County student with family ties to the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority was recently named the Class of 2024 recipient of the Northern New York Community Foundation Russell I. Wilcox Thousand Islands Bridge Authority Scholarship.

     Dawson J. Rastley, a 2024 General Brown High School graduate, was awarded a $1,000 scholarship.

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Boldt Descendants Continue Educational Support of Jefferson County Students for Post-Secondary Studies

     HEART ISLAND — Three Jefferson County high school members of the Class of 2024 were honored July 18 as recipients of the Northern New York Community Foundation George C. Boldt Scholarship.

     Ella F. Galloway and Sydnie R. Manarina, both Watertown High School graduates, and Dawson J. Rastley, a General Brown High School graduate, were each awarded a two-year, $10,000 scholarship during a reception at Boldt Castle with George C. Boldt’s great-great-grandson, Charles B. “Charlie” Goodridge, and family.

     The scholarship honors the legacy of the castle’s builder, noted hotelier and philanthropist George C. Boldt Sr. Charlie Goodridge’s father, Malcolm Goodridge III, led efforts in 2017 to establish the scholarship with other descendants of Mr. Boldt and dozens of North Country donors who have made gifts to the scholarship fund at the Community Foundation. Malcolm passed away in March at the age of 87.

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Thirteen Organizations Will Share Support for a Wide Range of Programs and Community Projects to Strengthen Quality of Life

     BOONVILLE — Thirteen community projects and organizations that benefit Boonville, Constableville, and Westernville residents will share $57,446 in funding from the Kenneth V. and Jeannette Remp Sawyer Community Fund of the Northern New York Community Foundation this year.

     Support will help build programs and fund projects that broadly impact the quality of life for residents in the three communities. Eighteen organizations applied for funding in the seventh year of the grant program. In 2023, the Sawyer Community Fund awarded $58,050 to 14 community-based organizations. Thanks to the enduring generosity of the Sawyers, the fund has provided more than $350,000 in support to 102 projects and organizations since grantmaking efforts began in 2018.

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Thousand Islands High School Graduate Tye H. Doxtater Awarded $1,500 Scholarship

     CLAYTON — Tye H. Doxtater was recently named the Class of 2024 recipient of the Mary Bastian Memorial Foundation Scholarship of the Northern New York Community Foundation.

     Tye graduated in June from Thousand Islands Central School. He will attend SUNY Potsdam this fall where he plans to study history. Tye aspires to become a high school history teacher.

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