Construction of Lake Placid thrift shop, food pantry continues | News, Sports, Jobs (2024)

Uihlein Foundation board member Jim McKenna, far right, hands a $100,000 to officials from Lake Placid Thrive and Thrift Monday for construction of the new food pantry and thrift shop. Also in the photo, from left, are Thrive and Thrift board Chair Jim Koenig and Executive Director Linda Young and Steve Sama, of the Lake Placid-based housing nonprofit Homestead Development Corporation, who is working with Simplex Homes to design and fabricate the building.(Enterprise photo — Andy Flynn)

One of four modular units for the new Lake Placid Thrive and Thrift food pantry and thrift shop is seen Monday at the construction site on Cummings Road.(Enterprise photo — Andy Flynn)

The foundation for the new Lake Placid Thrive and Thrift food pantry and thrift shop is seen Monday at the construction site on Cummings Road.(Enterprise photo — Andy Flynn)

Jim McKenna, a board member at the Henry Uihlein II and Mildred A. Uihlein Foundation, delivered a $100,000 check to the construction site, located on Cummings Road next to the Shipman Youth Center, about an hour before the modular unit arrived on Monday afternoon. Accepting the check were Thrive and Thrift board Chair Jim Koening, Executive Director Linda Young and board member Jackie Kelly, a Lake Placid village trustee.

McKenna called the food pantry/thrift shop project the “fabric of the community” prior to handing over the check.

“That’s what the Uihlein Foundation is for, you know, community goals,” he told the group before lining up for a photograph.

Also on hand was Steve Sama, a local developer from the Lake Placid-based housing nonprofit Homestead Development Corporation who is working with Simplex Homes, a modular construction company based in Pennsylvania, to design and fabricate the building. Homestead and Simplex recently teamed up to complete the 22-unit Fawn Valley housing development on Wesvalley Road.

One of four modular units for the new Lake Placid Thrive and Thrift food pantry and thrift shop is seen Monday at the construction site on Cummings Road.(Enterprise photo — Andy Flynn)

Crane day, set for Thursday, Aug. 22, is when the four modular units will be married as one and placed on top of the foundation, which has already been constructed at the site. Luck Brothers Inc., of Plattsburgh, will be handling the crane, according to Sama. In June, the company also used a crane to raise the new steeple on top of St. Agnes Catholic Church in Lake Placid, where the current food pantry is located in the basem*nt.

Lake Placid Thrive and Thrift is the new 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that progressed from the Ecumenical Charities program, of which Young was its founder and manager of the food pantry and the former Helping Hands Thrift Shop on George & Bliss Lane next to the Lake Placid marina. The thrift shop has since closed.

“We’re just happy to be able to continue serving the way we’ve always served. That’s extremely important,” Young said Monday.

The Uihlein Foundation, based at Heaven Hill Farm on Bear Cub Lane in Lake Placid, gives grants primarily for education, the arts and human services.

“We’re very proud and happy to bestow this check upon the new thrift shop,” McKenna said. “It’s right up the Uihlein Foundation’s alley, doing good for the community and assist in help.”

The foundation for the new Lake Placid Thrive and Thrift food pantry and thrift shop is seen Monday at the construction site on Cummings Road.(Enterprise photo — Andy Flynn)

Keonig, who is the pastor at the Lake Placid Baptist Church, said he is impressed with Thrive and Thrift’s support from the community in such a short period of time.

“We’re so grateful,” he said. “I just am blown away at how it’s come together, and it really is pretty amazing that this community — even though we sometimes talk about a lack of community here — this shows you that there is a real strong backbone in this community.”

Thrive and Thrift has eight board members: Koenig, Kelly, ADK Bridges to Empowerment co-founder Ed Dempsey, Lake Placid Public Library Assistant Librarian Karen Armstrong, food pantry volunteer Kathleen Martens, Lake Placid Central School District representative Jessica Seymour, St. Agnes Catholic Church Rev. John Yonkovig and North Elba town Councilor Rick Preston.

They expect to open the new building in October.

Thrive and Thrift is being built on the site of the old skate park and former LPCSD basketball courts next to the Shipman Youth Center. LPCSD voters chose to donate that plot of land to the town of North Elba in June with a 390-25 vote. North Elba will own the building and have a long-term lease agreement with Thrive and Thrift.

Meanwhile, fundraising continues. About $700,000 had been raised as of July, not including a $250,000 commitment from New York state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. It is not yet clear when the state’s funding will arrive, and more money will be needed to furnish and operate the building.

The Adirondack Foundation in Lake Placid was the original 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor of the project and continues the fundraising campaign for Thrive and Thrift. Online donations can be made at adirondackfoundation.org and checks can be made payable to the Adirondack Foundation with the name of the fund in the memo. Gifts of stock and qualified charitable distributions from IRAs are also accepted.