A bright blue sky and warm spring air greeted 81 brave volunteers who harnessed up and rappelled down the outside of the iconic Kodak tower as part of the Seneca Waterways Council’s 21 Stories for Scouts event on Friday, May 13. Returning for its thirteenth year, this rite of spring raised over $98,000 for local Scouting outreach programs focused in the City of Rochester.
21 Stories for Scouts gives volunteers a unique opportunity to challenge themselves beyond their comfort zone and pushes them to new limits. Volunteers represented a cross section of Rochester and surrounding counties, with business leaders, Scouting volunteers, and Scouts themselves all committing to raising at least $1,100 per individual.
The Seneca Waterways Council partnered with Over the Edge, a company that conducts extreme rappelling events all over North America.
“We are incredibly proud of all the hard work that our volunteers put in to reach and, in many cases, exceed their fundraising goals,” says Stephen Hoitt, Scout Executive/CEO of Seneca Waterways Council. “The experience, trepidation, and excitement that a Scout feels atop a 30-foot climbing wall at summer camp is very similar to what these volunteers felt when they leaned back over the balcony, 240 feet above the ground.”
The Seneca Waterways Council extends its thanks to Kodak for the use of the building, for their volunteers who helped participants cycle through the event, and for sponsoring two teams of participants. Several local companies also sponsored teams to rappel, including CGI Digital, Harris Beach LLC, Hoselton Auto Mall, Kennedy Mechanical, Paychex, Rochester’s Cornerstone Group, Sage Rutty, The Strong Museum, LeChase Construction, HB Cornerstone, and Taylor the Builder.
“Thanks to the generosity of some incredible donors in our community, we were able to have a record number of Scouts rappel this year,” Hoitt says.
ESL sponsored a participant gift, and Thermo Fischer Scientific donated custom Nalgene water bottles for the rappelers.
For more information on Scouting or to donate to this event, visit www.21storiesforscouts.org or call 244-4210.
21 Stories for Scouts will return in Spring 2023.
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