PORT HENRY | Friendly, ambitious faces associated with Mountain Lake Services are everywhere in the community, and that is by intentional design.
The Chapter of The Arc New York in Essex County, Mountain Lake Services (MLS), the organization’s mission is to partner with people of all abilities to live their very best lives. With a vision to be an inspirational model for advancing people’s journey through excellence, innovation, and connection, MLS and its commitment to those goals is dynamically demonstrated through its Community Services department.
“AT MLS Community Services, our focus is really helping build skills, connect with their community, find meaningful work, and everything we do at Community Services supports that progression,” said Elizabeth Rutkowski, Assistant Director, Community & Staff Relations.
Led by a team of dedicated professionals that includes Katie LaFountain, Shelly Yager, Jamie May, Linell Decker, Donna Evans, Kristen Millington, Andrea Connor, and Morgan Conley, the MLS Community Services programs provide support for individuals with developmental disabilities in areas of skill building, community engagement and finding meaningful employment.
“We offer many volunteering activities,” revealed LaFountain. “We are big in community inclusions, specifically for site-based programs. We create routine and consistency; many people we support thrive off of that. We want to be seen as stewards in our local community, we don't want to be seen as just consumers, we want to give back.”
The Keeseville Library is one such site that welcomes weekly volunteerism, with MLS individuals offering their capable and eager hands at disinfecting the children’s room and toys and cutting out paper inserts for books.
“We have been going there for a couple of years but within the last year we really made it a more bountiful experience,” LaFountain noted.
There are also connections with the SPCA, individuals making homemade dog treats out of bananas, peanut butter, and sometimes oats, as well as dog bed deliveries. Local schools and libraries enjoy bookmarks carefully crafted and donated from volunteers, and in Keeseville, Adirondack action receives a boost with extra sets of MLS arms watering flowers to beautify the community May through early September.
“We hone in on personal interests,” LaFountain said. “We all know volunteering is very meaningful, but we don't have people do things they don't enjoy just to say they volunteered; we want them to have fun while they are doing it.”
According to May, MLS also partners with Families First, -an Essex County, New York non-profit that serves families who have children with mental health issues.
“We collect Christmas gifts for families,” she shared. “Our individuals assist with delivery of presents during the holiday season.”
Yager, who oversees the Day Habilitation program, works with individuals from a wide spectrum of ages, 18 to 80, who all live within their own homes in the community.
“They come to us and do specifically based activities focusing on either job readiness skills or volunteering and maintaining independence and being part of their communities,” Yager explained.
On a daily basis, anywhere from 12-15 individuals break off in groups of three and four and travel all over Essex County to offer assistance where they are needed. A partnership with the Department of Transportation sees MLS having adopted a highway, the rest stop in Schroon Lake in the north-bound lane of the Northway. A minimum of once a week, the volunteers trek to their cherished area off I-87, working to keep it clean and tidy. A sign denotes their guardianship, and as cars whiz by honking with amiable appreciation
“They are really proud of it and this has opened up the doors for other things at other places,” Yager added.
On Main Street at the MLS Consignment Shop, Decker is busy overseeing prevocational services, imparting job readiness training and building skills to make individuals valuable and conscientious employees.
“We focus on soft skill training, which is teamwork, attention to task, hygiene, attendance, all the soft skills people need preparing for for employment,” Decker shared.
At the store, nine individuals rotate throughout the week, greeting patrons, offering assistance, helping in selecting outfits, operating the cash register, as well as performing quality control on items to ensure everything is worthy of being out on a rack. Those items that may be too gently worn for sale at the consignment store do not go to waste. Rather, MLS individuals work with Open Arms at Essex Industries, sorting and organizing garments by size and category. Thanks to the Department of Social Services, families in need are able to access those clothes for free in a comfortable shopping experience.
“There is a lot of community integration at the store,” Decker said.
This year will commemorate five years that the consignment shop has been up and running, and planning for a celebratory barbecue in which the entire community is invited is underway. Decker said July 11 of this summer is being eyed as the tentative date, and that in addition to sales, hot dogs, popcorn, candy, and musical entertainment will be included.
The Mountain Weaver’s Farm Store, also on Main Street, is another pre-vocational site used to teach job readiness skills. MLS individuals learning social and work skills while enjoying a variety of different work experiences in another positive environment.
“The Weaver’s Guild is where our individuals make homemade baskets, and many people in the community have come for classes,” Evans said. “We sell those baskets at the farm store with other local goods and services. Port Henry does not have many little shops, and this gives people the opportunity to pick up some eggs, fruits and vegetables and local meat.”
The high-quality baskets of all shapes and sizes have even been sent to Parcels by Northeast ARC in Danvers, MA, and individuals visit numerous farmers markets in the area when the season hits, peddling the baskets.
“Community Pre-Voc is the beginning of employment services, once they have completed Community Pre-Voc services they come to us through ACCESS-VR, which is a State-funded contract where we provide coaching support for people with developmental and non-developmental disabilities throughout Essex County,” Evans said. “Then we have supportive employment through MLS.”
Currently, there are about 45 MLS people employed or looking for a job. Job coaches check in and/or provide on-the-job training. Longevity with a MLS employee is not uncommon, one person having been with the Golden Arrow in Lake Placid for 16 years as a laundry attendant, another at Silver Bay for almost four years as a dining hall attendant.
“These people are excited to be working, and they are committed,” Evans said. “If you want a good employee, get one from MLS.”
MLS also offers a recreation department, as well as an apartment program that features all the necessary components to support independent living.
“People live in their own apartment and we focus on independent skills- cooking, cleaning, budgeting,” LaFountain said. “It is a great program."
OPWDD-eligible kids in school all the way up through age 21 enjoy the Mountain Lake Kids Program, a grant-funded program through New York State that offers community engagement and relief for families during school break.
“At the end of the day, it’s about people having purpose and feeling like they belong in their community,” Rutkowski said. “That’s what our Community Services team works toward every day.”
Contact information for services at MLS inquiries may be directed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The free and private Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Ombuds program, also known as IDDO, provides independent guidance and advocacy. Please call 1-800-762-9290 or visit www.IDDONY.org to discover available services and advocacy.
