Community spirit makes Schroon awesome. We’ve witnessed it time and again when we hear about neighbors helping neighbors. And that spirit is front and center again after a devastating fire destroyed livestock and a barn owned by John and Jen Otruba of Sugarbush Farms.

The outpouring of community spirit is simply stunning. Within hours of the February 28th fire, folks rallied around John and Jen and their kids offering any assistance they could. In the days that followed Shelby Davis, of Mr. P’s Mountain Smokehouse and Shelby's Kitchen Therapy fame, got a group together to organize a pot luck fund raiser.

And last weekend, Beti and Larry Spangel felled four pine trees on their property, which later became ninety-two twelve foot 2 x 6 boards, which will be used for the rebuilding of John and Jen’s Barn. You can read all about Beti and Larry’s adventures on her 30 Acre Wood Blog here.

And you can also read the heart felt remembrance of the loss the Otruba’s suffered that fateful day in a beautifully written piece by Jennifer on her blog, titled, "We Had A Fire Today”

In a later post Jennifer thanked the community for all they have done:

Thank you so much for your support. The community heart shone so strongly in the aftermath of our barn fire and has really allowed us the ability to stay open for business this summer rather than having to take a summer off to rebuild and reorganize. I cannot say thank you enough or fully express how deeply this has moved my husband and I. We are so blessed to live in this amazing town with all of you.

The Pot Luck fund raiser is on Tuesday (March 19) in the Mountainside gymnasium from 5:30 pm -7:30 pm to help raise funds to replace the animals, provide temporary shelter for the surviving animals and buy feed and other supplies. The admission is $15 for adults, $12 for children 8-16, and free for children under 8.

You can also bring food items to contribute to the buffet. For more information or to RSVP to the dinner, call Shelby at 518 532-4300. You may also get in touch with Anna Hay, Kim Dumoulin or Tim Botterbusch.

If you can’t make it to the dinner, there are other ways to pitch in. Cash donations can be made by sponsoring an animal - chicks are $2, chickens are $10 and goats are $75. Donations will be accepted in person at Mr. P’s Mountain Smokehouse or can be mailed to Sugarbush Farms, 40 Continental Drive, Schroon Lake, NY 12870.