By Eli Goldfarb and Frank Rizzo
BRIDGEVILLE — On Friday, Holiday Mountain Ski and Fun Park was presented with the first grant from NYSEG’s emergency economic development program.
The $62,000 grant will help the facility repair and replace electric infrastructure and equipment damaged or destroyed by severe flooding following Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee last summer.
“I cannot thank enough the Town of Thompson, the Partnership and NYSEG for all their help and support in this,” said owner Craig Passante. “Because of them, we were able to open this ski season.”
The key person in winning the grant was Michelle Resnick, director of marketing of the Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development.
For Resnick, whose family is a fan of the facility, helping a friend and a business was a professional task mixed with personal feelings.
“Craig is such a hard worker, so devoted to the community, and due to the storms, his business was in a lot of trouble,” Resnick related. “I wrote a letter [as part of the grant application to NYSEG] explaining how important Holiday Mountain is to the community… and it needed the money.”
Passante estimated the storms caused $210-240,000 worth of damage.
After Passante had filled out the application, Resnick continued to press NYSEG until the utility approved the grant about two weeks ago.
“We are pleased to be able to provide this assistance to Holiday Mountain – an important part of the economy in Sullivan County – and we wish the people there all the best as they recover from the destruction,” said Mark S. Lynch, president of NYSEG and RG&E. “From the customer response we have seen, we are certain that our emergency economic development program is a welcome addition to other flood recovery resources.”
Added Passante, “In these tough times running a family business can seem almost impossible, but when you see and get the support like we have from the local township, community and local businesses – like NYSEG – it enables you to persevere, and for that help and support I am extremely gracious and grateful.”
As for her grant-acquiring efforts, Resnick simply said, “It’s what we do,” referring to the Partnership.