The Gambol - more than a prom, a community tradition

There are senior proms, and then there is The Gambol. When his two sons graduated from Port Washington's Schreiber High School 20 years ago, Steve Kaplan volunteered, along with dozens of parents, to help with the elaborate arrangements for the community's spectacular annual party gift to its graduates.

[Lori]

It's a shame that the people who really did the work were left out of this article. This year's gambol did not have a god father, it had god mothers with a few angels. PWFD Fire Marshall, Jimmy Penrose, was our biggest angel as he was instrumental in executing Sharon Tracy's visions for this year's "Light the Night." theme. And I would personally like to thank my Co-Chair, Lauree Volpe for her hard work, dedication and friendship throughout this past year. Sadly, Lauree's name was not mentioned in this ill informed article.

[Gambol 2009]

Unfortunately this article is full of misinformation. "God Father" Steve Kaplan was not involved this year and reporter Jan Tyler was informed of this several times. Steve Kaplan chose not to be involved with Gambol 2009 this year because he was told that he would have to scale down his involvement this year and let the Gambol Co.-Chairs do the job that the Schreiber Home School Association entrusted them to do. This leads us to questions his motives for being involved for all these years, without the glory, there is nothing? We question the ego of a man who would lead a reporter to believe that without him, this event could not happen. Perhaps it did not make for an interesting article, the many hours and dedication by a small team of parents who helped Sharon Tracy fulfill her vision. Teams of parents who worked behind the scenes with no complaints, knowing that they would remain anonymous. Teams of parents who went home each night with paint on their clothing, teams of parents who built frames, hung pictures, sold tee shirts, licked a stamp and mailed out envelopes. Without Jimmy Penrose, a community volunteer, much of the lighting that was built by a small team of parent volunteers, would of never been hung, without the generous donations of Port Washington Businesses, Gambol could never happen. This was the first year that Gambol occurred at Castle Gould at the Sands Point Preserves. In lieu of of rental fee, we arranged to paint Castle Gould with the help of Gambol Co-Chairs Lori Bellini and Lauree Volpe and a small group of dedicated parents who spent the April school break painting this building black. The set design had to be rethought by Sharon Tracy to accommodate this move. Our Gambol Committees came together to solve our problems, call our own experts and build our own props. If Jan Tyler would of taken the time to check her facts and listened to the information that was given to her when she interviewed Gambol Co-Chairs, Bellini and Volpe, she might have come away with an article that was much more interesting and showed the spirit of a community coming together to create an event that Schrieber High School Seniors will remember for many years to come. The writer of this article did a great disservice to the parents and community members who put in their heart and souls into making this event a success.