March 23, 2022| Community, Education, Environment, Events, People, Recreation, Safety
By: Jessica K. Murphy
This post is part of a series of articles celebrating the Lake Hopatcong Foundation's 10th anniversary and a decade of protecting our lake, together. Our origin story is told by Jess Murphy, founding trustee, and our first executive director.
In order to tell the story of the last ten years of the Lake Hopatcong Foundation, I actually have to go back a little further, to 2009. That’s when Béla Szigethy reached out to me about starting a new publication that would focus on the lake, and the Lake Hopatcong News (“& Reviews,” initially) was born. During the three years I was editor-in-chief, I would regularly chat with Béla, and he would reliably bring up the idea of starting a nonprofit.
“I wanted to capture the zeitgeist at the time when the people around the lake were tired of hearing excuses from the state year after year and feeling like the lake was going downhill as a result. To give the lake a voice. And to pass on its value to future generations,” he says now, in recalling that time. He likened Lake Hopatcong to Central Park, where you have a public resource, but a nonprofit (in that case, the Central Park Conservancy) could help fill the gaps in government support, and go above and beyond with programs and initiatives.
I remember thinking it was a great idea, but as my family was beginning to grow, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to be a part of it. Over time, though, as Béla started getting more serious about the nuts and bolts of putting together a nonprofit, I started to realize that I couldn’t imagine a cause that would be closer to my heart. (My parents raised my three brothers and me on Lake Hopatcong, and my husband and I met and got married at the Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club.) So when it started to become a reality, I was fully on board as a founding trustee and the first and only staff member, with the support of my fellow trustees Béla, Tom Flinn, and Marty Kane, as well as Lauren Rossi, who would be hired as our first development director.
Thanks to Tom’s pro bono efforts, the Lake Hopatcong Foundation officially became a 501(c)3 in March 2012 (exactly 10 years ago this month!). With a generous contribution from the Szigethys to get things started, we created our mission statement: “Dedicated to improving Lake Hopatcong for all who use it, now and in the years to come,” and soon enough, I was devoting my time to setting up a website, crafting a budget, and planning our public launch. The office space we would occupy at 37 Nolan’s Point Park Road would be ready by late spring. And by June, we had coverage in local media and were hosting a launch event for local leaders at Alice’s restaurant (pictured above).
It was at that event that we shared our vision for the Foundation with local leaders and invited volunteers to sign on to different teams: water quality, safety, recreation, local business/community, and fundraising, each of which would meet regularly in the weeks and months ahead. Those teams would form the basis of the pillars of our mission today. In front of scores of friends and strangers, Béla told a story about his early memories of visiting the lake as a child (and falling in!). I stood there, pregnant with my second child, and tried not to shake too much as I shared my hopes for what we could do for the lake, together. It was a beautiful evening, and I can still feel the electricity in the room when I recall it.
With all that has happened in the decade since, it’s sometimes hard to remember the details of those early days, but these quotes from a Star-Ledger story announcing our launch help paint the picture:
"While it would be great if the lake were totally cared for by its owner, the state of New Jersey, the fact is that the state’s funds are limited," said Szigethy. "The foundation can help carry out some of the many good projects that the state or the Lake Hopatcong Commission would be doing if they had the money."
"Obviously the lake is a natural resource, and so we will be looking at it from a conservation standpoint," said Jessica Kitchin Murphy. "But at the same time, we hope to make the entire Lake Hopatcong experience — boating, fishing, swimming, or just lakefront living — to be better for everybody. So we’ll look at ways of improving quality of life and building a sense of lake community."
In our first months, we hosted a post-fireworks cleanup, donated money to Jefferson Township toward the establishment of the Prospect Point trail, and forged a relationship with the New Jersey State Police that would lead to added patrols on summer weekends. We held informational lectures for local residents, including an environmental presentation from Dr. Fred Lubnow and a historical presentation from Marty. Our fundraising team helped conduct a survey of lake residents to determine the issues that would resonate with the community (weeds and safety were 1 and 2, respectively), started fundraising “Restaurant Nights” at local eateries, and planned a miniature golf outing. We also started a “Shop Local” initiative following Superstorm Sandy, to support the local business community. By early 2013, our staff grew to include Donna Macalle-Holly as our grants and program director, and our donor base and volunteer teams expanded rapidly as well.
I still get emotional when I think back to those early days. The fast growth of the Lake Hopatcong Foundation is a testament to the incredible community that surrounds the lake; volunteers didn’t hesitate to roll up their sleeves and make things happen. By the fall of 2013, our lake-wide cleanup brought together hundreds of volunteers who removed literally thousands of pounds of debris from the lakebed. Our field trip program (personally my favorite initiative) has brought together dozens of volunteers who collectively have taught thousands of students in the lake community about how to care for this beautiful natural resource we all share. The Lake Hopatcong Block Party is a force of nature. The rehabilitation of the historical train station is a triumph. The Lake Hopatcong Trail will be a legacy project. There is SO much to be proud of, but none of it would be possible without a dynamite staff and the generosity of the lake community: in time, in talents, in dollars, and in belief that a tiny organization could do great things.
Ten years is just the beginning. I can’t wait to see what the coming decades will bring.
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| Founding Lake Hopatcong Foundation Trustees (left to right) Béla Szigethy, Jess Murphy, Tom Flinn, and Marty Kane |
