On June 8 at 8:30 a.m., the Strawbridge Lake Beautification Committee will present its second annual Moorestown Paddleboard & Kayak Race event. The nonprofit organization has tasked itself with caring for and maintaining Strawbridge Lake, and while its efforts are still just beginning, its impact has been felt across the community.
The committee was created after a few members of the community decided to restore the beauty of what the lake had looked like years prior. After going without proper care for a lengthy amount of time, invasive plant species began to grow out of control and, at least by sight, the lake started to disappear
“It was really hard to see the lake before this. You really couldn’t even tell if there was a lake there,” said Amy Gravenstine, co-founder of the Strawbridge Lake Beautification Committee. “Two or three years ago, we joined up with Chet Dawson and Emily Magana, who were doing some work at the lake. We were mainly focusing on cleaning up the lake edge. We were doing a lot of community cleanups, but me and my husband started to get frustrated because, within a few months, the lake edge would be back again and all the work that we had done would be gone.”
Gravenstine’s husband, George, had the idea to start a nonprofit organization for the lake, and in January 2018, the Gravenstines launched the Strawbridge Lake Beautification Committee. In May 2018, the organization presented the first Moorestown Paddleboard & Kayak Race fundraiser and raised enough money to clean the lake edge from Church Street to Kings Highway, the entire length of Haines Drive.
This year’s Moorestown Paddleboard & Kayak Race fundraiser is slightly different. The event will take place at the corner of Haines Drive and Kings Highway and will feature a live performance by local band April Mae and the June Bugs. There will be face painting, food trucks, vendors and a beer garden that will feature Double Nickle Brewery, among others. Lastly, there will be a silent auction that will feature a Nick Foles signed copy of the “Philly Special” touchdown, Phillies tickets, Georgetti’s catering package for 20, a one-month family membership to Lifetime Fitness, among other items.
The goal of the fundraiser is to maintain the lake edge so that it doesn’t revert back to the way it used to be. Therefore, all the proceeds from the event will go on to new projects that will continue the rebuilding of Strawbridge Lake. These projects include the need to make the lake more accessible.
“We want to add some sort of dock to the lake,” said Amy Gravenstine. “It would be for easier access so that people can fish easier and to get into the lake to paddleboard or kayak. With our event last year, we brought in a floating dock and people loved it. They didn’t want us to take it away. A dock would be very beneficial to the community.
“Our main goal is to look after the health of the lake,” Amy continued. “There’s so many pieces to it, but the health of the lake is a big deal. We also want to raise awareness and to have more people be involved in helping us make it the best that it can possibly be.”
