When Long Island native Dennis Bailey moved to a secluded home in the hills of Windsor, he came for the peace and serenity.

“It’s beautiful here,” said Bailey, who lives with his wife, Diane. 

What’s not as attractive is the work needed to be ready for winter. Bailey needs to stack, sometimes twice, his 70-square-foot shed full of firewood for his outdoor wood boiler that heats his home and an adjacent property. In the past, this was a task he could handle.

 

 

“A couple of weeks and I’d have it done,” said Bailey.

Now, a bad back makes that work impossible. So, in stepped the Windsor indoor track team. Handfuls at a time, the student-athletes hauled the chopped wood up a roughly 100-foot driveway on a steep incline to the shed behind the Baileys’ home. 

This, after the Baileys reached out to the Windsor Central School District’s Community Response Team to see which group in the District may be able to help. That’s when the track team offered to become the stack team.

“Community service is great for everybody. Not everybody has the back or manpower to do this. I haven’t heard one complaint from the kids, so they’re into it, too,” said track coach Tim Hogan. 

“It’s kind of team building in a sense. We get a chance to be together. In practice, it’s divided. You have sprinters, distance (runners), throwers. Now, we’re together. It’s fun,” said senior Justin Brown.

“It’s really fun. It’s like our team is getting closer, having fun. It’s better than one person doing it,” said senior Hannah Hill. 

 

 

Better for the team and the Baileys.

“This is a huge help. The way my health is going, I’d have to hire someone,” said Dennis Bailey.

“What they’re doing is phenomenal. Phenomenal,” said Diane Bailey.