When looking at their neighborhood around Wolf Lake near the towns of Thompson and Mamakating, three people realized that through a combined effort, goodness and charity can blossom.

Spearheading the Wolf Lake Neighbors Foundation (WLNF), officially formed in three years ago as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, are co-founders Don Kennedy and Jim Gleason, and community liaison Jean Eifert, all who share a focus “in the local.”

Don Kennedy 

Retired Partner, Carter 

Ledyard & Milburn, LLP

Don and his wife Micki have been members of the Wolf Lake community since 1977. Don has served as a Wolf Lake director, the corporate secretary and a member of the finance committee. In addition, Don was project leader for the Bass Pond Nature Trail.

Jim Gleason

Partner, Hinman, 

Howard & Katell, LLP

The Gleason family has been owners at Wolf Lake since the 1960s. Jim and his wife Kathy bought the family cottage in 2018. Jim has served on the boards of several nonprofits in Binghamton, his home town, most recently the Binghamton Boys & Girls Club.

Jean Eifert

Retired Educator, 

The Horace Mann School

Jean and her husband Kevin Cullen have been weekenders at Wolf Lake since 2001. Jean has served on the boards of Center Stage Community Playhouse and Greenville Community Theater. Currently, Jean is involved with the Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop.

Two-plus years of good

The WLNF has spent the last two years in raising money, encouraging communcal philanthropy and connecting with local businesses – 20 of which have already climbed aboard.

Just last year alone, with the help of those businesses and 20 more individuals, the WLNF raised and donated over $9,000 in gifts. And that work has continued on these past year and months.

Recently, the WLNF saw the invisible but present power of neighborly love with their “reverse porch pirate” initiative, where people left necessities like toothpaste, clothing items and non-perishable food items on the front porch of Kennedy, who saw the chairty spread throughout the community.

On top of this, the WLNF makes a case for giving students and teachers at both the George L. Cooke and Kenneth L. Rutherford schools in Monticello a helping hand via the Care Closets. For example, in November, the WLNF met with the George L. Cooke Backpack Program coordinator and second grade teacher, Joana Dutcher, where packages filled with items were dispersed to young people in need.

Even with all these good deeds under their belt, the trio are looking to spread their positive influence even further – with dreams of setting up and overseeing scholarships for higher education, in addition to a $5,000 donation to the Sullivan Community College to support a transfer scholarship that would help one of its graduates from the Towns of Mamakating or Thompson complete their education at a SUNY University or College.

For more information on WLNF and what you can do to pitch in to give students and teachers a better time both at school and at home, visit their website at www.wolflakeneighbors.org or email them directly at wolflakeneighbors@gmail.com.