Mission

Hamilton Helps is a local initiative focused on collaborating with Hamilton County and Indian Lake departments, agencies, community leaders, and neighbors to create opportunities for partnership to best support one another as we endure and recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our purpose is to work together to share resources, strengthen our local resiliency, and build capacity in our community now and later.

Origin

As Blue Mountain Center began considering canceling its Spring and Summer programming due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we instead began thinking about how we could serve our local Adirondack community. Since the loss of Indian Lake’s local grocery store, Blue Mountain Center has long been considering how to promote local food in Hamilton County. Once the severity of this crisis became clear, we saw the need to promote food access and security from a much different angle with a much more immediate need. We wanted to find out who in this community does not have what they need? Who doesn’t have a family member or neighbor looking out for them? And how do we reach those people? This is how the Hamilton Helps project began.

Team

Blue Mountain Center’s Hamilton Helps Project staff include:

Ben Strader
Ben Strader is the Director of Blue Mountain Center, a residency program for writers and artists located in Blue Mountain Lake, New York. He is the founding board President of the Indian Lake Theater, a new life as a community stage and screen for a defunct movie house in central Hamilton County.  Ben serves as the Secretary of the Blue Mountain Lake Volunteer Fire Department, served on the Indian Lake Planning Board for 10 years, and auctioneers regularly for the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts and Raquette Lake Fire Department. He helped with the creation of the Adirondack Nonprofit Network, a group dedicated to supporting Adirondack communities and the non-profit organizations that serve them. He is the proud father to an 15-year-old daughter and an 13-year-old son.

Sawyer Cresap
Sawyer Cresap became a staff member at the Blue Mountain Center starting in early 2020, joining the Blue Mountain Lake neighborhood. Sawyer is originally from outside Albany, New York, but spent much of her time hiking in the Adirondack Park while growing up. After graduating from Syracuse University, she spent a summer leading backpacking trips for kids across the Adirondacks before beginning her career with nonprofit organizations. Prior to moving to Hamilton County, Sawyer hiked the Northville Placid Trail and the Appalachian Trail alongside her fiance. Her favorite things about Hamilton County are the great people and the loons.

Ryan Felder

Ryan Felder is a program manager at Blue Mountain Center. Originally from Philadelphia, Mississippi, he has been living in New York state since 2015. He originally moved to Troy, NY to get experience in grassroots economic organizing. He just graduated from Union Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree with a focus on social ethics, education, and community development. Ryan likes fishing, clear-night skies, and looks forward to getting to know the communities in Hamilton County!