The Lodge | Bobcat

‘The Lodge at Dreaming Tree Ranch’ is a pediatric cancer retreat operated by the Help Sami Kick Cancer Foundation in Potsdam, New York. The foundation was originally established to provide financial support to families facing a pediatric cancer diagnosis, but its mission expanded with the creation of The Lodge, a place where families can step away from the realities of cancer and spend a week or more surrounded by the natural beauty of the Adirondack foothills. The retreat offers families an opportunity to rest, reconnect, and experience life while dealing with a difficult diagnosis.

We traveled to the ‘The Lodge’ to tell the story of how Bobcat equipment enables remarkable work to take place by supporting the people, projects and organizations which use their equipment. The Lodge serves as a living tribute to Sami Curtis, who passed away in 2017 after battling a glioblastoma brain tumor. For her parents, Jim and Karen Curtis, the property honors Sami’s memory while allowing them to support families experiencing challenges similar to those their own family faced. In January 2019, they purchased 230 acres of land and a 4,500-square-foot home in the small towns of Canton and Potsdam, New York. The Lodge, which is 1.5 miles from the Curtis family home, would turn into a retreat for families of pediatric cancer patients. On a property with many projects, improvements, and constant upkeep, its important for ‘The Lodge’ to have reliable equipment. That’s why they use Bobcat.

For our story, we knew that while Bobcat equipment plays an important role in sustaining and supporting ‘The Lodge,’ the property’s mission and impact needed to remain at the heart of the film. That’s why we decided to put the ranch itself — its origin story, and the impact it has on the families it serves — in the center. Through subtle touches, such as using Bobcat’s colors in on-screen graphics, featuring their equipment in aerial footage, and highlighting its role in trail construction and maintenance, we find a way to showcase Bobcat’s contribution without overshadowing the story. The result is a film that thoughtfully illustrates what Bobcat makes possible while keeping the focus where it belongs: on The Lodge and the lives it touches.

We understood that while the place itself matters significantly, the people whose lives are touched by The Lodge deserved to be the film’s strongest voices. So we spent as much time with the people that live, stay, and are shaped at and by The Lodge. For us, this meant not only telling the story of Jim and Karen, but also speaking with families who had stayed at the Lodge. It was about those that experience The Lodge’s impact firsthand. Their perspectives strengthened our film, gave it life. The piece also revealed something larger: the true value of a product is often measured not by its direct function, but by the ripple effect it creates. Bobcat equipment helps maintain and develop The Lodge, but the equipment’s impact extends far beyond the property itself. By making this space possible, it indirectly supports a mission that provides comfort, healing, and hope to families and children affected by cancer.

• Filmed at pediatric cancer retreat
• Told Sami Curtis’s legacy story
• Showcased Bobcat’s role on-site
• Interviewed families and founders
• Highlighted impact beyond equipment