Donor Spotlight | Reflections on the East End from Jerry and Beth Adler

People’s early experiences shape their reactions to different environments. Beth spent her childhood summers in the Catskills. Her ideal landscape to this day is a tranquil mountain lake ringed by evergreens. (Her memories, of course, date from before the invention of the Jet-Ski.)

But no one I know has failed to respond to the beauty of the East End. When we began looking for a vacation home five years ago, we were drawn to the North Fork, and a modest house on Mattituck Inlet. When our son, whose formative summers were spent on Fire Island, visits with his wife, who grew up in the mountains of Washington State, nothing short of a tidal wave will induce them to leave Bailie Beach before sunset.

Preserving the beauty of this place is important to me personally, of course, but also as a member of society. As a journalist, I have written a lot about the global environment. As an individual, there isn’t much I can do about the tropical rain forest or the Arctic, so I have committed myself to improving the small parts of the world within my immediate purview. The causes I support are land and water conservation and food security.

The Peconic Land Trust, which recognizes that farming is a legitimate use of open space and attempts to balance the scenic, ecological and economic value of land, is an ideal vehicle for both of those interests. I would be happy to support it even if I never set foot east of Brooklyn.

Also, it helps feed people.

I have chosen to support Peconic Land Trust with an automatic monthly contribution, mostly for the organization’s benefit. Obviously it’s to their advantage to have a reliable source of income for budgeting purposes. On the other hand, it deprives me of the satisfaction of making individual donations when I feel like it.

So I do both.

It is the third week of March as I write this, from my home in New York City, and I look forward eagerly to returning to the North Fork, and the beautiful place that Peconic Land Trust is helping preserve.

Thanks to Jerry, Beth and all our Peconic Partners!!!

Because of you, we can do so much more!