Out In The Mountains : News - Rowing for Habitat

by Euan Bear

       In mid-August, I got phone calls and emails about Gunnar and Heather Baldwin, a husband and wife team who were rowing from Albany to Canada in a "modified" Adirondack guideboat to promote Gunnar's company's support for Habitat for Humanity.
      Gunnar works for Toto, which makes low-flush toilets ("that really work," declares Heather). The company is donating a toilet and washbasin to each of seven Habitat for Humanity houses in New York (5) and Vermont (2) along the way. Gunnar offers that he'd be doing the row whether or not his company agreed to sponsor it; he's been rowing since 1951.
      You’re probably wondering where the "gay" angle is in this story. Well, there are two: renovation and conservation. And then there's good works and messing about in boats.
      Think about it: nearly every waterway west of the Green Mountains and north of, say, Benson empties into Lake Champlain eventually. Most of those streams carry some portion of the effluvium we all (regardless of who we love) flush away. The Baldwins – and anyone else swimming, sailing, rowing, or otherwise using Lake Champlain – are floating on that effluvium. The less of it there is, the better for the environment, and the less water is wasted moving our (ahem) movements.
      And as for renovation, aren't we known for that? Whole neighborhoods have considered inviting gay men to move in and fix up their aging tenements and make over their defunct factories. I just paid to have someone put in an upstairs bathroom. Did I get a Toto toilet? Well, no. But that was before I knew about Gunnar and Heather.
       They are not novices doing a stunt. The pair has rowed over a thousand miles from Key West to South Carolina – except for 60 miles of swamp ("There were no take-outs," says Heather, and she means places to land on shore, not fast-food) – through the Intracoastal Waterway. When we spoke, they had already negotiated the 12 Champlain Canal locks, linking the Hudson River to the lake.
      "The greatest thing is the people," both rowers say at different times during the interview. They recount tales of strangers helping them retrieve their car at the end of each day. Often, the strangers have been Habitat volunteers. Of them, the Baldwins couldn't say enough about how wonderful they were.
        The Vermont affiliates are Habitat for Humanity of Addison County and Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity. Each plans to complete a home this year and either has received or will receive a toilet and washbasin from Gunnar's company, Toto USA, Inc. "These are high-end toilets," notes Margaret Carothers, board chairwoman of Habitat for Humanity of Addison County. They would not otherwise have been able to put a Toto toilet in the house for which they just broke ground (on Pleasant St. in Middlebury), and are about to select a family. This will be the third Habitat house for the group.