Representatives of Lake Placid Thrive and Thrift inspect one of four modular units for the new food bank and thrift store at the construction site on Cummings Road next to the Shipman Youth Center on Monday, Aug. 5. From left, board chair Jim Koenig, board member Jackie Kelly and executive director Linda Young. (News photo – Andy Flynn)

LAKE PLACID — The fourth and final modular unit of the new Thrive and Thrift grocery store/thrift store in Lake Placid arrived Monday, Aug. 5. “Crane Day” is approaching. Meanwhile, the promised funds are beginning to arrive.

Jim McKenna, a board member of the Henry Uihlein II and Mildred A. Uihlein Foundation, delivered a check for $100,000 to the construction site on Cummings Road next to the Shipman Youth Center about an hour before the modular unit arrived Monday afternoon. Accepting the check were Thrive and Thrift board chairman Jim Koening, executive director Linda Young and board member Jackie Kelly, a Lake Placid councilwoman.

McKenna described the food distribution and thrift store project as “Fabric of the community” before handing over the check.

“That’s what the Uihlein Foundation is there for: community goals.” he told the group before they posed for a photo.

Also in attendance was Steve Sama, a local builder with Lake Placid-based nonprofit Homestead Development Corporation, which is working with Simplex Homes, a Pennsylvania-based modular home builder, to design and build the building. Homestead and Simplex recently partnered to complete the 22-unit Fawn Valley housing development on Wesvalley Road.

Uihlein Foundation board member Jim McKenna (far left) presents Lake Placid Thrive and Thrift officials with $100,000 on Monday to build the new food bank and thrift store. Also pictured are (from left) Steve Sama of Lake Placid-based nonprofit housing agency Homestead Development Corporation, along with Linda Young, Thrive and Thrift executive director, and Jim Koenig, board chair. Sama is working with Simplex Homes to design and build the building, which will be located on Cummings Road next to the Shipman Youth Center. (News photo – Andy Flynn)

Crane day will take place on Thursday, August 22. On this day, the four modular units will be connected to form one unit and placed on the foundation that has already been built on site.

Sama said Luck Brothers Inc. of Plattsburgh will operate the crane. In June, the company also used a crane to erect the new steeple at St. Agnes Catholic Church in Lake Placid, where the food bank is currently located in the basement.

Lake Placid Thrive and Thrift is the new 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that grew out of the Ecumenical Charities program, which Young founded and managed, including its food bank and the former Helping Hands Thrift Shop on George & Bliss Lane next to Lake Placid’s marina. The thrift shop has since closed.

“We are just happy that we can continue to serve as we always have. That is extremely important,” Young said on Monday.

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

The foundation for the new Thrive and Thrift food bank and thrift store in Lake Placid is seen at the construction site on Cummings Road on Monday, August 5. (News photo – Andy Flynn)

“We are very proud and happy to be able to present this check to the new second-hand store,” Said McKenna. “It is exactly the right thing for the Uihlein Foundation to do good for the community and to help.”

Keonig, pastor of Lake Placid Baptist Church, said he was impressed by the support Thrive and Thrift has received from the community in such a short time.

“We are so grateful,” he said. “I’m just overwhelmed by how everything has come together, and it’s really amazing that this community – even though we sometimes talk about a lack of community here – has a strong backbone.”

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

They expect to open the new building in October.

Three of four modular units for the new Thrive and Thrift food bank and thrift store in Lake Placid are seen Monday afternoon, Aug. 5. The fourth unit was delivered later in the day. (News photo – Andy Flynn)

Thrive and Thrift will be built on the site of the old skate park and former LPCSD basketball courts next to the Shipman Youth Center. LPCSD voters voted 390-25 in June to gift the property to the city of North Elba. North Elba will own the building and has a long-term lease with Thrive and Thrift.

Meanwhile, donations continue. As of July, about $700,000 has been raised, not including a $250,000 pledge from New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. It’s not yet clear when the state funds will arrive, and more money is still needed to furnish and operate the building.

The Adirondack Foundation in Lake Placid was the original 501(c)(3) financial 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 included in the memo. Gifts of stock and qualified charitable contributions from IRAs are also accepted. The direct page for Thrive and Thrift’s fundraising is https://tinyurl.com/ykue2mnp.