Over 320 guests gathered at Mr. Mike’s Pizza on Sunday afternoon for an Italian dinner fundraiser, raising a total of $10,686 in support of the Helping Hands Community Hub. The hub, slated to be built on the former site of Lake Placid Central School District’s basketball courts adjacent to the Shipman Youth Center, will house the Lake Placid Ecumenical Food Pantry and the shuttered Helping Hands Thrift Shop.
With a project cost of $800,000, the community has rallied behind the initiative, with direct donations totaling $575,000 as of early May. The fundraiser marked the commencement of a community-wide campaign to bridge the remaining financial gap.
Rev. John Yonkovig of St. Agnes Church, the current host of the food pantry, expressed gratitude for the overwhelming community support, describing it as “exceptional.”
The new hub will feature separate spaces for the food pantry and thrift shop, along with a basement area for community meetings and a garage section to store secondhand furniture. Managed by the local nonprofit Homestead Development Corporation, the construction of the hub will utilize a prefabricated building from Simplex, a modular construction company based in Pennsylvania, expected to arrive in June.
Anticipating a summer construction timeline, the hub aims for a fall opening pending approval from the Lake Placid-North Elba Joint Review Board and approval from LPCSD voters. The review board is scheduled to vote on the project following a public hearing on June 5, while LPCSD voters will cast their ballots on June 24 to authorize the donation of land for the hub.
Yonkovig emphasized the swift progression of the hub’s development, from concept to reality, as a testament to the collaborative efforts of local governments, nonprofits, and community members, reflecting the spirit of Lake Placid.
“The hub is a wonderful testament to the village,” Yonkovig remarked. “It’s a real community need.”