Sarah Hoffman:
A Tribute to 20 Years with the LGLC

Sarah represents quiet competence in all she does at and for the Lake George Land Conservancy.  As an office volunteer for over a year, I have seen Sarah in action: whether managing myriad details and ensuring the success of the Hike-A-Thon, drafting a piece about the early women conservationists of Lake George, or speaking at a tri-county chamber of commerce event at Wiawaka, Sarah brings her intelligence, passion for the LGLC’s mission and work ethic to the task at hand, and the LGLC is better for it.

In addition to Sarah’s quiet competence, she is a warm and genuine person. As an office volunteer, I have had the privilege of helping with Hike-A-Thon preparation in various capacities.  Sarah’s welcoming presence has been central to my experience at the LGLC and has made me want to return again and again to be a small part of the effort.  I can only imagine how much Sarah’s personal warmth and character mean to those who, as colleagues, share not only physical office space, but the daily responsibility of advancing the mission of the LGLC.

Congratulations, Sarah, on this milestone in your career and best wishes for continued satisfaction and success!  Never forget how integral you are to the important work of the Lake George Land Conservancy!

The LGLC is blessed to have Sarah Hoffman as part of the team!!  Understated brilliance wrapped with caring and kindness is how I would describe Sarah in a few brief words.

She quietly, calmly makes so many things happen for LGLC. Her creativity and long cultivated community connections can be seen in publications all over our region, as well as the LGLC mailings. The pieces found regularly in these publications draw the reader’s attention.

My first introduction to Sarah and the LGLC was in 2013, the year of the very first Hike-A-Thon. I was visiting family at Lake George and read through a Chronicle that was published a few weeks prior, and I saw an announcement about the first LGLC Hike-A-Thon. I noticed that the RSVP date had already passed, but I called LGLC to see if there was still space. Sarah Hoffman welcomed me to LGLC and signed up my extended family (all 10 of us) for Gull Bay preserve that still had some spots left. Even though we were a last minute sign-up, she miraculously and unexpectedly found t-shirts for all of us. We had a marvelous time and have participated every year since the Hike-A-Thon’s inception and our participating family group has grown to at least 16 participants each year.

Fast forward many years and my knowledge and appreciation for LGLC have grown. So has my participation with the LGLC. I am now a board member. This has given me even more insight for how talented Sarah is, as well as the diverse and creative ways that she helps community members understand the mission of LGLC and the numerous recreational and educational opportunities the LGLC provides the community and its visitors year-round.

Not only is Sarah a valuable part of LGLC, she’s a wonderful, loving mother and a generous, caring community member who gives selflessly. Because of Sarah Hoffman, our little corner of the world is a better place to live.

It has been my pleasure to work with Sarah on the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce’s (ARCC) Women’s Business Council. She was nominated and elected as our Communications Chair in 2022. Sarah is a joy to work with and is always looking for ways to grow her role and lift the message of the WBC.

She creates a monthly feature on important dates for women and spotlights women of distinction who have ties to our area. Just like in everything she does, Sarah puts such thought and care into researching these profiles and educating others about their contributions to our region.

Sarah is a wonderful asset to the LGLC and to our community as a whole- she is passionate about sharing the mission of the LGLC at meetings and making the work you do there accessible to those who may not be familiar with it. Congratulations on 20 years, Sarah! Your efforts make a tremendous impact in our community and I am thankful to know you!

I first came in contact with Sarah by volunteering to lead hikes for the Hike-A-Thon eight or so years ago. Over the years since, I have watched with total amazement how she calmly and confidently manages an event that has grown to include many hundreds of participants, dozens and dozens of leaders, a pandemic and the variable weather of early July in the Adirondacks. If those aren’t challenging enough, she has added on an after-party that has to be as complicated to plan as a wedding reception!

Through it all, I’ve never seen her frazzled. She has every detail (except maybe the weather) organized to a T, right down to the helicopter photo schedule. It has become the highlight of my, and I’m sure many other people’s, summer and, in my opinion, the hallmark event of the Lake George Land Conservancy. And, most surprisingly, I can say all of this as a card-carrying member of the Sarah Hoffman Fan Club even after she recruited me to lead the infamous “hike from hell” up Spruce Mountain a few years ago!

The year was 2013 – the 25th Anniversary of the Lake George Land Conservancy. The staff wanted to do something special to “showcase the LGLC’s most visible assets to the public -the preserves – and celebrate those members of the community who made them possible.” (quote from Sarah Hoffman June 10, 2013)

Thus, the concept of the Hike-A-Thon was born and according to Sarah, “The Hike-A-Thon has been a lot of fun to organize.” That year, Sarah was “excited to get 400, maybe 500 people” …..

Sarah, the Outreach Manager, who is also a logistics wizard, was tasked with developing the hike plan spread over nine (9) locations for over 400 people who signed up for the inaugural Hike-A-Thon with free T-shirts for all those who pre-registered. She also had to calculate the correct amount of time needed for each group to hike to the summit of the various preserves, and coordinate that timing with the fly-over of the helicopter for an unforgettable photo shoot.

Needless to say, Sarah spent countless hours working to pull that first HAT together. The event was a smashing success with hundreds of hikers on that hot and humid July day in 2013.

The rest, as they say, is history- with the HAT now drawing 600 – 700 people and showcasing more and more preserves and properties each year, with multiple corporate sponsor donations. Sarah has been the inspiration and driving force making each HAT bigger and better than the previous one.

Congratulations to Sarah on 20 years of service to LGLC and creating the 11th annual HAT this year!

I met Sarah on what was possibly the first hike to Gull Bay to see the heron rookery, May 2006? We instantly connected and I could see that there was a kindred spirit here who was dedicated to the land, the water and all the wildlife that lived within. And most important was her desire and ability to reach out and draw in people to the matrix! Making those connections, providing opportunities for folks to experience the beauty and value of protecting the land as well as ways for everyone ~ everyone! ~ to take part in that vision.

It has been a delightful pleasure to work with her, in walks and talks, in fund-raising and a most heartfelt friendship I treasure deeply. Thank you Sarah for 20 years, and here’s to 20 more!