Cold Spring Harbor Sisters Team Up To Grow Fundraiser
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Cold Spring Harbor seventh and eighth graders participated in the fourth annual Camp Loyaltown fundraiser, through which the Nemshin sisters raised $5,000 for the sleepaway camp.
By Janee Law
jlaw@longislandergroup.com
Camp Loyaltown, an upstate sleepaway camp for children and adults with special needs, has received more than $23,000 in donations over the past four years thanks to the fundraising efforts of Cold Spring Harbor Jr./Sr. High School sophomore Jolie Nemshin.
This year, for the first time, Nemshin had some help from her soon-to-be successor, her sister Mandy.
When she graduates in 2020, Jolie, 15, plans to hand the reins of the annual fundraiser over to Mandy, 13, a seventh grader.
“It’s a nice thing for us to do together,” Jolie said. “It’s a really good cause and Camp Loyaltown is really appreciative of all of our efforts, and it makes people really happy.”
The collaboration between the Cold Spring Harbor duo helped balance the work equally during the planning process, Mandy said. She added that while she was in charge of promoting the event and getting her fellow classmates to attend, Jolie was behind the scenes, making flyers and crafting posters.
With help from her sister this year, Jolie said the event has definitely grown.
“I wasn’t in seventh or eighth grade last year, and neither was my sister, so we didn’t have as many people attend,” Jolie added. “Since Mandy is in seventh grade this year, she was able to get a lot of people to come, which helped us raise a lot more money.”
Jolie initiated the annual fundraiser four years ago when she learned of Camp Loyaltown from her classmate, RJ Schupler, whose brother, William, has attended the camp.
The fourth annual fundraiser was held at the H on the Harbor in Port Washington on Jan. 19, when nearly 100 seventh and eighth graders attended.
Through ticket prices at $40 and donations made online, this year’s event raised more than $5,000.
“It makes us feel really good when we get to see all the families, how happy they are that we help out and add all this stuff to the camp,” Mandy said.
Jolie said that donations that have been made to the camp in previous years have been used to build a welcoming bear, which the camp named the “Jolie Bear,” and a sensory garden and outside huts for campers.
During the event, spectators watched an informal video about Camp Loyaltown, ate dinner, danced and had the chance to win prizes that were raffled off. Various businesses, including Lacrosse Unlimited, Sweetie Pies on Main, Woodbury Deli, String It Up, and Living women’s clothing store, donated gift cards.
Jolie said her goal is to continue the annual fundraiser up until her senior year and then have her sister take over, adding “We just want to continue it for as long as possible.”
Mandy, looking to the future, added that she’s hopeful another Cold Spring Harbor student will take charge of the fundraiser once both the sisters have moved on from the school.
