From left, in the front are Rotarian and project organizer Martha Spear, Lake Placid New York Rotary Foundation (LPNYRF) President Chandler Ralph, Rotary Club of Lake Placid President Kate Thompson, Rotarian and project organizer Heather Perkins, Rotarian and Adirondack Foundation Generous Acts Fund representatives Stephanie Pianka and Jennifer Russell, ROOST representative Mary Jane Lawrence, Uihlein Foundation President James McKenna, village of Lake Placid Mayor Art Devlin, town of North Elba Deputy Supervisor Rick Preston and Adirondack Foundation representative Matt Donohue. In the back are Rotarian Greg McNally and Local Enhancement and Advancement Fund representative Valerie Abraham-Rogers. (Provided photo — Harris Semegram)

LAKE PLACID — The three bus shelters around Lake Placid are small, but significant reminders of what can happen when community members work together to meet tangible needs in the community.

This was the message at a small gathering of community leaders and representatives from organizations that funded the bus shelters, as they met once again to dedicate the shelter located near the Cascade Acres RV park on Monday.

“As you can see from all of us gathered here, it takes many working together to support a community,” said Kate Thompson, president of the Rotary Club of Lake Placid.

This project arose out of the observations of a few of the Rotary Club members. Heather Perkins, a Rotarian and organizer of the project, recalled seeing people sitting at the stop near the North Elba Town Hall.

“Just seeing people out in the elements: rain, snow, heat,” she said. “I just thought it would be a nice addition.”

Perkins and fellow project organizer Martha Spear said the project ended up being more difficult than they anticipated. Right off the bat, the project seemed easily fundable. However, it turned out that there are a lot of logistics involved in building a bus stop. Everything from finding ideal locations to obtaining necessary permissions to finding a builder willing to work on a relatively small project presented a challenge, Spear said.

In the end, many people stepped up to the plate to help. Nate Parsons, the late carpenter who worked on the shelters, was honored with a dedication at the station on Main Street. Students from Clarkson University also helped find ideal locations and worked to develop a design.

At Monday’s dedication, Lake Placid Mayor Art Devlin confessed that he wasn’t sold on the bus shelter idea at first.

“I’m very happy to announce that I was wrong on everything,” he said. “They’re very attractive. They are used. Thank you for moving forward with it.”

In the future, Perkins said the Rotary Club has developed the know-how about constructing bus shelters, and would be available to help the town and village with future shelters, as the need arises.

The bus shelter project received about $25,000 in funding from local foundations. Each representative emphasized the need for teamwork and the importance of projects that serve the community in concrete ways.

“It really aligns with our priorities of supporting basic needs and economic vitality in our community,” said Stephanie Pianka, chief financial officer at the Adirondack Foundation.

The Adirondack Foundation provided a Generous Acts grant for the project. The project was also funded by the Local Enhancement and Advancement Fund, which is administered by the town of North Elba and the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism from occupancy taxes. The Henry II and Mildred A. Uihlein Foundation was the lead donor for the project.

However, the shelters were also a result of many individual community members who donated a total of about $10,000 towards the project, Spear said. Thompson added that this partnership between individuals and foundations should continue to work toward positive changes in the community.

“Let’s make good trouble, right?” she said. “Together.”