A Lot to be Thankful For

Tonight is the 3rd night of Chanukah and Christmas and New Years are just around the corner. As I sit here, I think of all I am thankful for. Many of you know that a disaster was quite narrowly averted at our Main Street neighbor Upstate Karate of Mountaindale. Our good fortune was largely due to the time that the owner, Alexandra Lalieu, arrived at the studio to discover the early stages of smoke; the quick thinking of Ken Schmitt in shutting down the electricity and the amazing response time of the Mountaindale and Woodridge Fire Companies. Our local first responders worked together like a well oiled machine to check everything out thoroughly, while at the same time minimizing property damage and keeping Main Street safe by managing traffic around the three trucks on the scene.

It was also fortunate that Upstate Karate had access to a very suitable alternate space to utilize across the street in our community room so that classes continued all week and the students and families were very flexible about training in a temporary new space. Happliy, we can now report that Ed Porter of Dominick's Plumbing & Heating worked quickly and efficiently to remove & replace the former heating system and the karate school is warm and cozy as of this writing. DuraClean also arrived today to shampoo all the rugs so that all will be clean and fresh when the karate students return for classes after the holiday.