- Tonight on WPBS Weekly.

Inside the stories we head to Garnsey's Feral Acres and Chaumont, a sanctuary where farm animals are cared for and the community is learning to do the same.

And for more than 34 years, the Kinsmen Dream Home Lottery has made dreams come true all while raising funds for community initiatives and nonprofit organizations.

Also, the Akwesasne Art Market and Juried Show features traditional and contemporary art.

Plus, discover how the Erie Canal sparked America's engineering revolution.

Your stories, your region.

Coming up right now on WPBS Weekly, Inside the Stories.

- WPBS weekly inside the stories is brought to you by - When you're unable to see your primary care provider.

The Carthage Walk-in Clinic is here for you, located off Route 26 across from Carthage Middle School.

Comfort and Healing close to home when you need it most - North Country Orthopedic Group is there for your urgent ortho or sports related injuries.

With our onsite surgical center and same or next day appointments, we're ready to provide care for patients of all ages.

Your health matters to us North Country Orthopedic Group, keeping healthcare local.

- We are the north country where protecting one another like family is who we are and where our tomorrow will always be worth defending.

Find out how we keep the North Country Strong, at claxtonhepburn.org today.

- Select musical performances are made possible with funds from the statewide community Regrant program, a REGRANT program of the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York state legislator administered by the St. Lawrence County Arts Council.

- Good Tuesday evening everyone, and welcome to this edition of WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories, I'm Michael Riecke.

What started with one newborn Piglet has grown into a sanctuary for cows, sheep, ducks, and all kinds of farm animals.

Since 2013, Jeff and Julie Garnsey have been on a mission to change the way we see and care for animals often overlooked in everyday life.

Take a look.

- Hi Ferdanand.

Hi, baby.

If there was something that I could do for an animal that was physically within my power or reach to do that, I was always gonna do it - For Jeff Garnsey.

Every animal on his farm has a name and a story.

- Oh, oh, I love you.

Yes, I do.

- It's part of his mission at Garnsey's Feral Acres on Animal Sanctuary, helping the community see farm animals in the new light.

- Is that like the softest teddy bear you've ever felt?

Isn't that a wonderful yay?

He is.

Garnsey's Feral Acres is is a place that gives sanctuary, sometimes rehabilitation to usually large animals, generally animals that don't have other protections under the law that are considered to be personal property rather than animals.

We've got lambs, we've got full-sized goats, we've got Nubian goats, we have birds like the guineas that you hear behind you.

We have a lone rooster that has no idea how to be a rooster.

We've got geese, we have got lots and lots of cats.

- Jeff cares more than 80 creatures, no matter how big or small.

And with help from the community, that number keeps rising.

- Jeff called me for some help with his pigs that needed some work.

I don't generally do pig work, but I made an exception because he said that he was a rescue and not a production type of situation and not a pet type of situation.

- I grew up on a farm and I'm, I'm familiar with farm animals and I, I grew up with horses and I have a pretty good read on animals, so I wasn't too afraid.

- Happy right there.

- What I enjoy the most about volunteering here at the farm is I get a chance to help animals.

And more than that, the animals also help me in turn.

It's very therapeutic.

It gives me peace of mind and it makes me feel good about myself.

- You so handsome.

- Farm animals are difficult to care for in a rescue type of setting because most of them are herd animals.

So you can't just have one cow, one donkey, one pig.

You generally have to have multiples in order for them to have a good social life.

And that is a big part of any type of animal.

And you need to have good socializations.

That's, - There's an order of things and everybody expects you to be dad every day.

And everyone thinks that they're the favorite and everyone thinks that you are the one that he loves or she loves and you love back and you have to deliver on that promise every single day.

And that is, it's a bit of magic.

- It's a promise.

Jeff, Dr. Becky and volunteers keep for animals like Peppa of Pig who came into garden care in 2013, - Doc Becky was here and she did the initial assessment and she said, this one's probably not going to make it because her fib and tib are destroyed.

She could tell, you could tell by the secondary inflammation that there was some real systemic damage in that that left region.

And what I heard was, so you're saying there's a chance, the surgeon came out and he told me it's a thousand to one odds at the best that she even survives the surgery.

And it took two and a half hours and she was supposed to be in physical therapy and aftercare at Cornell for three months.

She home in five days and she was supposed to be fitted with a prosthesis at about six months, 900 pounds later.

She had absolutely normal growth and she's had a normal life and she was the pig that was never gonna make it.

And because of her, at least a dozen animals that I know of have been rescued, - Jeff is very dedicated to these animals.

And I just want him to succeed as best as possible.

- The endless efforts by Jeff and Crew have made the feral acres a place where small miracles onboard every day.

- Yes, Jeff's personality is probably the thing that I like best about working up here.

He's just so friendly all the time and so positive all the time, and pretty much lets me do whatever I think is medically necessary for the animals.

And so that is a lot of freedom.

We don't have to deal with some of the constraints that I have on production farms, like, you know, value of animal versus input on medications and things along those - Lines.

Don't break in front of his mouth.

Here you go.

He'll take it from you.

He's not gonna hurt, he's not gonna hurt you - From animals still need help.

And many are still waiting for a warm human touch to keep his vision alive.

More support is needed.

- Supporting community organizations like Garnsey's Feral Acres means the world to me, because more often than not, people view farm animals specifically as just livestock when they're really worthy of our kindness.

And in the absence of federal funding, these animals wouldn't have this home.

And it, it means the world to me that we have the opportunity to take care of these animals.

If you like animals, - This is going to be something that you've never experienced before because every animal here is just waiting to touch the next heart that it sees.

And every animal is approachable, friendly, and socialized.

And if you feel like there's a little something missing in your free time or in what you do on a day-to-day basis, you should definitely give this a shot because there's a place for almost anyone - In Chaumont, For WPBS weekly, I'm - Gahyun Ku.

To learn more or to volunteer, visit garnseysferalacres.com.

Well, the Kinsmen Dream Home Lottery is back for its 34th year of making dreams come true, not just for the lucky winner, but for the entire community.

This beloved annual fundraiser organized by the Kinsman Club raises significant funds for local charities while giving ticket buyers the chance to win a stunning, newly built home.

Take a look.

- 1.5 million.

Who wants a house?

Who wants the house?

Alright, here we go.

Okay, come on.

Bill.

Who's the lucky winner?

1.5 - Year after year.

The Kinsman Dream Home Lottery brings a powerful mix of hope, generosity, and excitement to the community.

It is more than just a chance to win a home.

It's about changing lives and supporting the organizations that make our community stronger.

- We give people hope.

Not only do we, we give them the hope of winning the home.

We give every charity the hope that we are gonna donate and help feed the community or get the kids to where they need to go so that they don't become our homeless and our drug addicts in the future.

And we've had people who've been buying tickets for 34 years.

Some have won, most have not.

And all of them say the same thing.

They tell us it doesn't matter whether we win or not.

We know that who you're supporting is important and we wanna be part of that.

It fills my heart with joy.

- Organizing a lottery at this scale takes months of hard work, unwavering dedication, and a clear vision for what's possible.

From the first blueprint to the final ticket sale, every step is driven by a desire to create lasting change.

The Kinsman Club alongside their partners and sponsors have poured their heart into this initiative.

- Sometimes we get, we get lost in just how big an impact that is.

But one that's personal and one that really changed my view on things was Harold Parsons came to us with the Boys and Girls Club and said, Graham, we want you to donate $500,000 over the next five years towards a youth club that would be free for children.

And I said, okay, that's a lot of money, right?

Because it was gonna be our biggest spend.

We, we really hadn't given away that much before.

And so when he gave me the details of it, I was a little skeptical, but he said in the North end, where it's really a tough area of the city, we want to get kids off the streets, get them busy after schools, get them food, teach them, maybe give them some mentoring, but give them something to do, basketball teams.

And so we did, we we, we partnered up and the first a hundred thousand opened up the doors.

And the following year, what really got me was the, we like to see the presentation come back.

So you, we gave you the money, what was the impact?

And he came back and it was, Harold was there and then he introduced me to the police association.

And I was like, what's going on?

And what, what are these guys doing here?

And what they came in was amazing was they did the presentation and they said the crime dropped in the north end in this category of youth.

And we knew right then our money was well spent.

Because if we can make that impact with the young ones today, they'll make the bigger impact with the older ones later.

And that's when we really see our dollars take effect.

So my, that's one of my better stories and, and, and really keeps me going when I start to get tired and long days.

- This year's Kinsmen Dream Home proudly built by Tamarack Homes is a true testament to what can be achieved when passion and purpose come together.

With over three decades of experience in creating beautiful homes, Tamarack Homes is once again delivered a space that exemplifies quality and excellence.

While one family will open the door to their dream home, many others will gain access to critical resources that will make a lasting difference in their lives.

- It's an honor of a lifetime to be able to be a part of this and what they do every year that I now get to be, you know, that I get to play a part in that.

Oh my gosh, what a, what a beautiful life honor.

This is my second year designing the Kinsmen Dream home.

And every year so far has been rewarding in a way that it's, it's hard to describe because it's right deep in my heart this the whole process from day one.

And for me, you know, I, it's only been two dream homes, but it's sort of been three years because I start a year in advance to plan and, and prepare and to have this vision of what I want the home to be.

And so, yeah, I would say the the, the end result, knowing what Kinsmen does in the community, what they do with the funds that they raise from this home, that's the real reward, is I know the impact that's gonna have.

And it, yeah, it brings me to tears.

It's hard to describe really how I feel about these homes.

- The Kinsmen Dream Home Lottery is a powerful example of what can be achieved through collective effort and generosity.

It highlights the lasting impact that can be made, especially for organizations like the Boys and Girls Club of Kingston.

By providing safe spaces for children and offering programs that motivate and empower youth, this lottery helps pave the way for a brighter future.

- So we actually named our youth programs after the Kinsmen Club.

So they're our full 7,000 square foot space, which has a fitness center, some classrooms and music studio.

And we put the funds that we received from the Kinsmen Club directly towards staffing and supporting that.

We simply couldn't run the youth program without their support.

We, it's really one of the only free youth programs in the city, which includes free sports leagues, it includes academic support, and the fitness center just simply couldn't happen.

We know that when children turn 12, 13 years of age, we like to say that they vote with their feet, meaning if they don't like it, they won't come.

And we're a perfect example of children and youth that grew up at the club and now continue.

And those are the ones that actually get employability skills.

They get their volunteer hours and they become summer employees and support for going to post-secondary.

And it all starts because of the Kinsmen Club providing support to make that happen.

- For WPBS weekly, I'm Gail Paquette - The Akwesasne Art and Juried Show celebrates traditional and contemporary art created by artisans of the Mohawk tribe of Akwesasne, along with vibrantly crafted pieces, this rich cultural experience features live demonstrations and performances.

Take a look.

- So today we did the awards at 10, we have the market space that opened up at 11.

We also have demonstrators starting at 11.

So we have basketry, we have log pounding, we have lacrosse stick netting, we have food sovereignty.

We also have the juried show artists under the lacrosse box with those 67 pieces.

And along with the artists that entered the jury show back here in the field was our largest count.

We had 71 market vendors in this field.

15 of those vendors were food vendors.

So we tripled in all our numbers that we had from 2023.

So the show just keeps growing and growing.

- So it's the oh Honda Soliqua.

And I've always wanted, I've always dreamt of having as much natural material in the piece as I can as possible.

And so we incorporated roadside porcupine quills, moose hair dyed moose hair.

Also, we made our own sinew from a deer tendent from my husband's last Deer hunt.

I'm very overwhelmed.

I didn't expect to be best overall because there's so many amazing artisans here in Akwesasne.

So to get this award is very overwhelming, very, I'm very honored and very happy.

- So I was, I was one of the jurors this year for the Juried Art Market.

It's a really incredible process.

There are five of us, so, you know, we all have curatorial biases and different opinions on things, but we're all really looking at things really closely.

So looking at ideas in the work, looking at technical aspects of the work, really just looking at all different things to, you know, framing and presentation as long as well as the piece.

And then also really read what the artists are exploring in their work, what they're thinking about, and reading the stories and narratives behind that.

So it's a very long day, but it's definitely worth it and I'm just honored to be a part of that.

- So we just expect this show Akwesasne Art Market to grow every year.

So keep following us on social, Facebook, Instagram, Akwesasne Travel website.

We plan to keep growing this event every year.

The numbers just keep growing.

If you feel comfortable being a market field vendor this year, and then you wanna enter the show next year, we encourage you to enter the show.

We just encourage all Akwesasro:non to look out for us for next year and to enter the show.

Yeah, - This year the Akwesasne Art Market and Juried Show takes place on Saturday, July 26th at Generations Park in Akwesasne.

Visit Akwesasne.Travel to learn more.

Well, 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal.

We're celebrating this technological marvel with a multi-part special series.

Tonight we examine how the construction of the canal sparked America's engineering revolution.

Take a look.

- When RPI was created, there was no civil engineering program in the United States.

It just happened to be here because of two people that had, you know, one with a vision and one with means to do it.

The luck is that Troy was here on the, the eastern end of the Erie Canal.

- So one of the amazing things about the Erie Canal and the Champlain Canal is that the engineers did not have professional training.

These were mostly surveyors.

They had minimal experience in building a canal.

Benjamin Wright, who's considered the father of American civil engineering, had a little experience.

They're looking to examples from Europe, they're, you know, reading on it and, and they're using trial and error.

There was no civil engineering school in America at the time.

- There was West Point, there was Norwich Academy, but those were both military institutions.

RPI had a program that was a true civil engineering program.

The first degrees that were offered in 1835 were in civil engineering.

And those were the first civil engineering degrees that were awarded in the United States from any school.

Steven Van Rensselaer II was one of the lineage of the Van Rensselaer Patroons.

- The war of 1812 happens, Steven Brian Rensselaer comes back and he's becomes one of the canal commissioners.

They start to say, Hey, you know, we couldn't get supplies cheaply and efficiently or troops out to Buffalo or out to the frontier.

That that is an extra push toward the canal.

- Amos Seton has is an interesting heritage.

He started out as a, a lawyer.

He ended up in jail for a number of years for forgery, maintained his innocence.

But while he was in jail, he self-study and took an interest in science.

His approach is much more of a pragmatic hands-on view of science as opposed to a lecture style where people are told what to learn - Beyond the Appalachian mountain chain.

There's untapped natural resources.

And in order to, to tap into that, the Erie Canal is seen as an answer.

And starting in 1817 through 1825, they kept adding sections and sections.

The laborers were, were using shovels, pick axes, scrapers.

The, the forerunner of the modern wheelbarrow was invented.

The laborers were, were locals.

Eventually Irish immigrants would, would fill out some of the labor for, especially in the more difficult areas like the Montezuma Swamp.

And at Lockport, - Steven Van Rensselaer was very active in politics, but also very interested in science.

There was a void, there was a need in Amos Eaton's mind for a school to be able to teach his approach to, to science.

He wrote to Steven Van Rensselaer, who again as a benefactor was somebody who had the money who could fund an institute that Amos Eaton had envisioned.

The Rensselaer School started in Amos Eaton's house, which was located practically near lock one.

He was taking the students to the Erie Canal to see it and observe it and witness the results of science and engineering.

There was a stream that when he would take the students out there, he called it Laboratory Creek or Laboratory Brook.

- The canal was successful right from the start and you had long lines at the locks.

And so there were already calls to enlarge it and to have two locks at each spot.

So you can have eastbound or westbound traffic.

The enlarged canal is mostly dug on the backs of Irish immigrants by the time the Barge Canal is built.

Starting in 1903, a large portion of the labor on the Barge canal was done by Italian immigrants.

They were still using shovels, they were still using buckets and they were still using wheelbarrows, but they now had to pour concrete.

The contractors would hire experienced people to use the steam shovels and the trains.

The main engineers who worked on the Barge Canal were well educated.

They had, for the most part, engineering degrees.

- So as we come, you know, forward 200 years, all of the other branches of engineering really are outcrops of what started a civil engineering.

And what was developed 200 years ago at the, at the Rensselaer School is still carried through in all of those types of engineering today.

And that, I think is the legacy that, that Amos Eaton and his vision have is that it's carried through not just at RPI, but at other schools.

Engineering really has built our nation.

The Erie Canal was the the start of that.

It still needs to be maintained and that in itself is an engineering achievement.

- Well, that does it for this Tuesday night.

Join us next time for a fresh look inside the stories.

Johnny Spezzano is back in the kitchen with special guest Chris DiPrinzio of DiPrinzio's Kitchen in Clayton.

They'll show you how to create delicious lobster rolls for perfect summer entertaining.

And we'll dive into your next read with Laura Teberiu as she breaks down The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.

Meantime, if you have a story idea you'd like us to explore, we'd love to learn more.

Just drop us an email at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org and let's share it with the region.

That's it for tonight.

Have a safe evening.

We'll see you next time.

Take care, - WPBS weekly.

Inside the stories is brought to you by - When you're unable to see your primary care provider.

The Carthage Walk-in Clinic is here for you, located off Route 26 across from Carthage Middle School.

Comfort and Healing close to home when you need it most - North Country Orthopedic Group is there for your urgent ortho or sports related injuries.

With our onsite surgical center and same or next day appointments, we're ready to provide care for patients of all ages.

Your health matters to us.

North Country Orthopedic Group, keeping healthcare local.

- We are the north country.

We're protecting one another like family is who we are and where our tomorrow will always be worth defending.

Find out how we keep the North Country Strong, at claxtonhepburn.org today.

- Select musical performances are made possible with funds from the statewide community re-grant program, a re-grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York state legislator administered by the St. Lawrence County Arts Council.

- 900 pounds later, she had absolutely normal growth and she's had a normal life and she was the pig that was never gonna make it.

And because of her, at least a dozen animals that I know of have been rescued.