LAKE PLEASANT — An anonymous donor has announced he or she will provide a dollar-for-dollar match for the next $1,000 raised toward the Bridge of Names reconstruction after it was damaged during an October 2020 storm.
Matt Atwood, president of the Lake Pleasant Village Association, a residents’ group that owns and manages the Bridge of Names, said the association is still looking for donations to support repairs for the Bridge of Names. The structure was damaged during a storm in October 2020, when a tree trunk fell on the roof of the pavilion and tore through the bridge’s deck.
The Bridge of Names, built in the 1970s, is a local landmark of Lake Pleasant. Pickets along the sides of the bridge are marked with the names of local residents who have contributed to support construction and maintenance over the years, giving the bridge its name. It is also the most direct walking route between the two sides of the village of Lake Pleasant, which are separated by a ravine.
The bridge reopened to foot traffic at the end of April, but the effort still needs picket supplies, electrical lights and power to fully restore the bridge.
There are three ways to contribute to the Lake Pleasant Village Association’s bridge repair efforts — Venmo LPVA Treasurer Jackie Stein: @jackenstein; send a check to LPVA, Box 7, Lake Pleasant, MA 01347; or donate via a GoFundMe page at gofund.me/c081de0c. Atwood said the $1,000 to be matched will be tracked through all three means of donation.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the GoFundMe page had collected $10,562 toward its $50,000 goal. But Atwood said this is not representative of the total amount raised. He said the Lake Pleasant Village Association collected roughly $20,000 in total, which paid for the large renovation by Dole Brothers Construction of Shelburne.
While some of the pickets bearing the names of donors who financially supported the bridge were destroyed in the storm, Atwood said the Lake Pleasant Village Association was are able to ensure no names are lost.
“Luckily, we took photos before the disaster,” he said.
Members of the association went along the whole bridge, he said, documenting all the names. Now, another villager is working on a spreadsheet to keep track of the names, and where their pickets are located on the bridge.
“Ideally, we’d love for anybody who comes to the bridge to be able to use it to find whoever they’re looking for,” Atwood said.
Some of the pickets with names were undamaged in the storm and were able to be incorporated into the repaired sections of the bridge. Atwood said others that were broken will be replaced, with Rick Bastarache volunteering to carve the names.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.
Bridge of Names Fundraising Match (2021 June) by Zachary DeLuca on Scribd