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The Bamboo School where Chris volunteered for a month or more in summer 2012.  (more text to follow)

http://www.pda.or.th/

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http://littlefootprintsbigsteps.com/

In late May 2013, just four days before he was due to graduate from Cornell, Chris Dennis camped out with some good friends on the shore of Cayuga Lake. He was up at dawn on May 22, and asked if any of them wanted to paddle out into Cayuga Lake to see the sun rise.  No one stirred in the tent, but one friend remembers hearing him bail rain water from the canoe which he then launched by himself.   Later that morning, when he did not return, his friends started to look for him.  At midday, his swamped canoe was found near the center of the lake, about a mile north of the campsite.  

 Chris has not been seen since.   A massive search effort to locate him was called off after five days, and a memorial service to celebrate his life was held by the lake at Taughannock Park. 

 Chris was a fine athlete with a remarkable sense of balance, but he was not wearing a life jacket that morning (nor on the previous afternoon while canoeing with a friend).   Cayuga Lake is a glacially-deepened lake with a depth reaching 433 feet, and its water in May remains frigid despite sunny weather and warm air. 

 Chris’ tragic death has left his family and friends struggling. For those that knew him, Chris was a loving son and brother, and loyal friend.  We remember him as an incredibly compassionate and idealistic young man, actively involved with projects that revolved around global environmental issues and poverty alleviation.  That summer he had planned to join his girlfriend in Chicago and to work with his brother and sister on a film about factory farming.

Among the projects that will help to honor Chris or support causes that were important to him are: a permaculture garden on the Cornell Campus, a shelter for children in Les Cayes, Haiti, an Oxfam nutrition project in Haiti, and a rural school in Thailand.