The Peru Gazette

Click here for the NCPR story 

L-R Shirley Joust, Dale Walton, Diane Natishak

Mike Sullivan

L-R Kevin Clark, Janice Kennedy, Jean Ryan, Mary Jo Juneau, Debbie Bell

Betsy Wickman

Peru, NY— Between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. each Wednesday, St. Augustine’s Soup Kitchen serves 180 to 220 take-out meals. Beginning at 8 a.m., volunteers from all segments of our community work for four to five hours preparing the meals with tender, loving care. Five volunteer teams serve the meals.

All the morning volunteers were present today, so the Peru Gazette thinks it’s a great time to recognize them. Bravo to you all—you’re great people! We love you! 

“HELP WANTED”

By John T Ryan, Peru Gazette Editor 

Peru is a great community; unfortunately, I’m not reporting many interesting, meaningful stories. I do my best, but I have many responsibilities and interests, and I am getting a “little” older. I need contributing writers. The pay scale would be the same as mine,  $0 per day, month, and year; however, the satisfaction scale could be very high.  

If you love Peru and its people, enjoy current events, and are a decent writer, please email me at perugazette@gmail.com. We can meet over coffee. I’ll buy! 

Peru – CVPH Donor Center Blood Brive, Monday, December 23, from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., at St. Augustine’s Parish Center, 3030 Main St. in Peru. Each presenting donor during December will be entered into a drawing for a $50 Applebee’s gift card.

The drive is being coordinated by St. Augustine’s Knights of Columbus Council 7273.

Town of Long Lake, Hamilton County, Wilderness Rescue: On Nov. 28 at 10:30 a.m., Ray Brook Dispatch received an SOS activation from a satellite device on the southeast shoreline of Little Tupper Lake. At 12:05 p.m., Forest Rangers Curcio, Nahor, and O’Connor located the 80-year-old subject who had overturned his canoe. Rangers brought the subject to DEC’s Little Tupper Lake Headquarters at Mount Whitney and warmed him. Once warmed, the subject declined further medical attention. Resources were clear at 3:05 p.m.

Town of North Elba, Essex County, Wilderness Search: On Nov. 30 at 4:55 p.m., Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from a subject reporting his wife and a friend had become lost while hiking Street and Nye mountains. Forest Rangers Curcio, Odell, and Ordway responded. At 6:06 p.m., Ranger Curcio reached the subjects and assisted them back to their vehicle. Resources were clear at 7:18 p.m.

$10 Pre-Packed Bags Available for Purchase through January 5 

(Schenectady, N.Y.)  Market 32/Price Chopper is inviting guests in all its stores to support local food pantries and nourish local communities by purchasing a $10 bag containing PICS brand items most in need by food banks and pantries: a 16-ounce box of elbow macaroni, 16-ounce jar of peanut butter, 10.5-ounce can of chicken noodle soup, 5-ounce can of tuna, 15.5-ounce can of kidney beans, and 5-ounce can of chunk chicken. The purchased bags will be donated to a food pantry local to each store, allowing guests to make an immediate impact on people who may be their friends and neighbors.

The bags will be available on displays at the front of each store, where signage will identify the name of the benefitting organization.

“At a time when most of us are celebrating and enjoying an abundance of food choices, the number of people experiencing nutrition insecurity is increasing, and local food pantries continue to provide assistance at record-breaking service levels,” said Pam Cerrone, Market 32/Price Chopper director of community relations. “In every community, there are people who experience food insecurity. Market 32 and Price Chopper are grateful to our guests, who are who are generous and happy to join with us in supporting local food pantries and the people they serve with this drive.”

Grand Isle, VT – The Patrick Leahy Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) seeks proposals for projects that will support increased organizational capacity and long-term effectiveness of watershed organizations working in the Lake Champlain watershed.

Funding requests of up to $20,000 will be considered. Approximately $250,000 is available to support awarded projects under this Request for Proposals. The LCBP anticipates supporting multiple projects through this funding opportunity.

This grant opportunity will support watershed organizations in the early stages of their development or assist established organizations in strengthening their capacity. Funding is not intended to support the development of new programming; this funding can be requested through other LCBP grant programs.

Dr. Eric Howe, NEIWPCC Program Director of the Lake Champlain Basin Program, said, “Local watershed organizations throughout the Lake Champlain Basin take on an incredible amount of work to restore our waterways. Our goal with Organizational Support funding is to help ensure these groups have the administrative tools and processes they need to carry out this essential work.”

The awarded grants will support projects that advance the goals of the long-term Lake Champlain management plan Opportunities for Action. These projects are supported by funds awarded to NEIWPCC on behalf of the LCBP by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Proposals are due at 5:00 PM EST on January 6, 2025. Awarded projects will begin work in May 2025. More information, including grant guidelines and applications, is available on the Lake Champlain Basin Program’s website at lcbp.org/grants.

The Peru CSD Board of Education’s Policy Committee will meet on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, at 8:00 AM. The meeting will take place in the High School Community Room. The purpose of the meeting is for policy development of its 0000 – 9000 series.

The meeting is open to the public and current District, County, State and Federal safety procedures and protocols will be followed.

Click here for the Adirondack Alanmac story 

Click here for the Adirondack Almanac story 

The Peru Central School District Hall of Fame is accepting nominations for potential candidates.  The District Hall of Fame is designed to recognize individuals who have made a significant impact on our school or achieved an outstanding contribution(s) to society as a graduate of Peru CSD. The candidate must have attended, been employed, served, or contributed to Peru CSD in some capacity and must have been retired for at least five (5) years.

The following criteria will be used when considering an individual to the Hall of Fame – outstanding contributions to Peru CSD, outstanding contribution to society, outstanding career, participation and/or leadership in community activities, and a significant impact on an individual’s life while associated with Peru.

Deadline for applications will be Friday, March 14, 2025. Applications are available at the High School Office or the District’s website at https://www.perucsd.org/peru-csd-hall-of-fame/.

St. Augustine’s Soup Kitchen will not be serving Thanksgiving week. On December 4, meatloaf will be served. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

By Melissa Hart

Peru, NY – Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024 – Peru Girl Scout Troop #4183 members toured the water treatment facility on Reservoir Road tonight. Water district superintendent Courtney Tetrault explained where our water comes from and walked the girls through how it is treated and delivered to our homes. Special thanks to Courtney for taking the time with us!

(Photos by me, Melissa Hart)

Submitted by Melissa Hart – THANK YOU, Melissa! 

More than 800,000 children enrolled in Medicaid and Child Health Plus will benefit

Click here for the Sun Community News story 

New schedules between Albany and NYC to take effect Dec. 2

Click here for the Sun Community News story 

L-R Mason Wilson, Store Manager Greg Mills and Maddox Wilson

Dick’s Sporting Goods believes that sports can change lives and that kids who take part in sports will learn essential life skills such as leadership, discipline and integrity. Dicks Sporting Goods Store Manager, Greg Mills, presented the North Country Cougars Hockey Club with one of this year’s $4,000 Sports Matter Grants. The Cougar’s Hockey Club has used this grant to make needed repairs to their snack bar. Through the Dicks Sporting Goods Foundation, the Sports Matter grants aim to address the growing issue of underfunded youth athletics nationwide.

L-R Melissa Wiggins, Judy Lefevre, Lorelei Wiggins

Lorelei Wiggins received the Youth Patriotic Award Citation.

Peru Girl Scout Unit #446 received the National Youth Group Supporting Our Veterans Citation. 

VFW Auxillary President Judy Lefevre made the following remarks.

Lorelei Wiggins has an extensive list of accomplishments and activities.  She dances at Center Stage in Plattsburgh, where she is a member of the Lake City Players.  As a junior at Peru High School, her activities include Select Chorus and All-State Chorus. She was selected to perform solos at the New York State School Music Association and has been a member of the Drama Club.

At St. Augustine’s Applefest, where Lorelei sells her canning products to help her parents pay the costs of her extracurricular activities, she promoted the VFW Auxiliary and our youth scholarship programs to anyone and everyone who will listen. She was terrific, even though she is not currently a member of our Auxiliary.

Lorelei is an Ambassador Girl School and Peru Community Delegate at State Conferences.  For the past two (2) summers, she has served as a Councilor in Training, learning, and practicing her leadership style to become a Camp Councilor.

We have witnessed Lorelei’s leadership skills as she mentored the younger Peru Community Girl Scouts and called the commands as the younger girls posted our nation’s colors during both Memorial and Veterans Day ceremonies. I am honored to present Lorelei Wiggins with a Youth Patriotic Award Citation for her dedication to veterans.

Tonight’s second (2nd) award is to Melissa Wiggins as a representative of Unit # 446 Girl Scout leaders. Before Memorial Day, the Peru Community Girl Scouts cleaned and re-planted the flower beds around our building and in front of the Veterans Memorial Wall. On Flag Day, they performed a beautiful flag-burning ceremony. In September, before our 50th Anniversary Dinner, the girls met here and did a fall cleanup around the building and the Memorial Wall. These activities were a tribute to our veterans.

I am honored to present The National Youth Group Supporting Our Veterans Citation to Peru Community Girl Scout Unit # 446 in “Recognition and appreciation of your support of our veterans and their families.”  Congratulations!  Thank you for all you, your fellow leaders, and the girls do for our veterans, their families, and this community.