SARATOGA LIVINGThe City. The Culture. The Life.

For newly diagnosed cancer patients in the Capital Region, organization Floyd Warriors is nothing short of a godsend. Launched in 2009 by Lisa Morahan, who herself had been diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer, Floyd Warriors’ mission is simple: to help cancer patients continue to take care of their homes and families despite their illness.

Now, with Easter coming up on April 1, Floyd Warriors will once again be sponsoring its Project Easter Bunny initiative, which looks to hand out hundreds of Easter baskets to families dealing with a cancer diagnosis. This year’s project is going the extra mile. “To collect enough toys and candy to fill 500 large Easter baskets, it takes a lot of people donating a lot of toys and candy,” says Morahan, President of Floyd Warriors (she’s also the Executive Director for the New York State Recreation and Park Society). “Thankfully, we have 20 drop sites around the Capital Region that make donating easy.”

Rallying volunteers under the Floyd Warriors’ motto—”Dinner is done…Dishes are clean…The kids are OK!”—Morahan has made many helpful cleaning and meal-delivery services available to local families in need. She was inspired to start Project Easter Bunny in ’09, when her own battle with breast cancer left her too weak to make an Easter basket for her son, Caden. She resolved that, once she recovered, she would make Easter baskets for her family and as many other families battling cancer as possible. Nine Easters later, Morahan is at the helm of a crew of over 40 volunteers who will spend four hours assembling an array of donated items into 500 Easter baskets. “All the goodies were rounded up and brought to our Homefront Hero, Quad Graphics in Saratoga,” Morahan tells me. “Once made, the baskets are delivered to area cancer support organizations and treatment centers including American Cancer Society/Hope Club and several oncology centers from Albany to Glens Falls. Nurses have the joy of passing these out the week of Easter to patients receiving chemotherapy and radiation, so they are spared waking up Easter morning without a basket to give.”

Morahan couldn’t be happier with how her initiative has turned out. “I’m very happy to say thousands of children have enjoyed beautiful baskets Easter morning, thanks to Project Easter Bunny,” she says. “My true hope is that it continues, however large or small in size, so that just one basket may reach a person in need.”

Community organization Saratoga Unites has reached its fundraising goal of $4,000 to bus Saratoga Springs High School students to Washington, DC, for this Saturday’s March for Our Lives, a protest aimed at ending “gun violence and mass shootings in our schools today,” and raising awareness in the nation’s capital among lawmakers there. Taking place tomorrow (March 24), the March for Our Lives is largely in response to the 18 school shootings in the US this year so far, including recent ones at Great Mills High School in Maryland and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Saratoga Unites met its fundraising goal more than a week before the event.

This display of student activism follows the nationwide school walkout that took place last Wednesday, March 14. Hundreds of Saratoga Springs and Ballston Spa high school students participated, honoring the victims at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School with 17 minutes of silence, one minute for each life lost. “I think now we aren’t taking no for an answer, and we are demanding change,” Ballston Spa High School student Dominique Amézquita told The Saratogian. “This was not the last thing that we’re going to do, because we won’t stop until something changes.”

So far, local school administrators and government officials have been supporting the students in their effort to inspire new gun control legislation. “It was well thought out,” said Michael Patton, Saratoga Springs City School District Superintendent, about Wednesday’s walkout. “We had feedback from the students and engaged with law enforcement just to make sure it was going to be a safe and orderly event,” says Patton. “It went off exactly the way that we would hope for. The students were extremely respectful; listened; and the speakers were very knowledgeable and passionate about first remembering the victims of Parkland, as well as the message that students want our schools to be safe.” And Patton says that’s “something as a school district we fully support.”

The Saratoga Springs City Council responded earlier this month by unanimously voting to ban gun shows and the sale of firearms and ammunition on city property. “The lives of our children have forever changed and as a public servant, a mother and a community advocate, we must set the example for creating action,” Mayor Meg Kelly recently told saratoga living. “Our children are speaking very clearly to us, and it is our job to empower them to help enact change.”

“We set no limit on goals and what we will accomplish, but our focus will remain on electing individuals who are supportive of progressive ideals, such as LGBTQ+ issues and reproductive health,” says Tara Gaston of CapitalWomen. She’s helping facilitate the ongoing launch of CapitalWomen Saratoga, a women-run political initiative that took effect following the election of President Trump in 2016.

Officially underway as of yesterday evening—the group had a launch party at Longfellows in Saratoga—CapitalWomen Saratoga exists as a newly founded branch of CapitalWomen NY. The group holds regular meetings during which Spa City locals can discuss how to help more women and progressive candidates reach public office. “I spoke to a number of women in Saratoga Springs who were looking to form a base of candidates and staff, and more year-round support,” says Gaston. Members include former Mayor Joanne Yepsen, public relations strategist Ruth Fein and immigration law professor Sarah Rogerson. “I felt that [together] we could build something more sustainable with a focus on education and networking,” says Gaston.

It didn’t take long for CapitalWomen Saratoga to gain steam. In its first year, the group managed to donate $16,000 to local campaigns leading up to the 2017 election. As it stands, CapitalWomen-endorsed candidates have a 70 percent win rate. The women-run initiative plans to increase their influence even further this year. “CapitalWomen Saratoga will work as a part of a local and state PAC,” Gaston tells me (PAC stands for “political action committee,” by the way). “Additionally, CapitalWomen will serve as a bundler for federal elections. The part that I’m most excited about, however, is the programming that will focus on growth, development, networking, education and support of political leaders and staff.”

CapitalWomen Saratoga’s plan is to also network and develop their way into representation in nearby counties. The group’s launch is well underway, and a Schenectady branch of CapitalWomen is on the horizon. The question remains whether a substantial base of politically minded women will be interested enough to join. “If you’ve ever wanted to get more women and progressive candidates in office, this is a way to help,” Gaston says. “The programming will not just focus on candidates, but on potential staff members; and will offer information and guidance that will benefit individuals outside of politics as well, such as fundraising, leadership skills, public speaking and message development.”

Gun shows and the sale of firearms and ammunition are officially prohibited on city property in Saratoga Springs, according to a measure that passed unanimously at a special council meeting on March 9. The vote, which was in response to the increase in school shootings nationwide—and specifically, the devastating shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School—took place just days after its approval from the City Center Authority and ensures that this year’s New Eastcoast Arms Collectors Associates (NEACA) Gun Show at the Saratoga Springs City Center will be the last of its kind.

“The time is now for a change,” Mayor Meg Kelly says of the special council’s decision. “The lives of our children have forever changed and as a public servant, a mother and a community advocate, we must set the example for creating action. Our children are speaking very clearly to us, and it is our job to empower them to help enact change.”

Of course, not everyone agrees with the ban. “The liberals are on a role with their same old anti-gun rhetoric repackaged through the mouths of children since the horrible school shooting in Florida,” wrote David Petronis, President of NEACA, in a recent prepared statement. “The rhetoric and the marches, the rallies and the petitions, are expected because we all know the anti’s will never let a tragedy go to waste.”

But Mayor Kelly maintains that the city’s actions are intended to keep the children of Saratoga, and the rest of the US, safe in school. “Large-scale policy changes are produced by local-level actions; our local-level action is banning the sale of ammunition and firearms on city owned property. This is the first step to providing action to our children’s and community members’ expressed concerns,” she says. “We, as adults and community leaders, must show our children that you can make change, and that we are listening and we stand beside them in their mission to make a difference. This is only the beginning of change.”