Laurie Adams with dedication sign. PAULETTE LEBLANC

On Friday, June 26, the distribution crew of the Greater Pine Island Water Association threw a surprise luncheon for general manager Laurie Adams. Although she likely realized her hard work had not gone unnoticed, she had no idea they were going to dedicate the building to her.

“We are dedicating this building to Laurie, for all her hard work from beginning to end,” said Erik Iverson of the distribution crew.

“This building really was huge,” said Adams. “I looked at the storage shed out back where the guys stored all of their equipment and that’s just not O.K. in terms of how they take care of the distribution system.”

It was that thought which started Adams on a quest to build a better space. She found a piece of property that was for sale and as she says, waded the way through all the red tape of property ownership. She admits that part of the journey was especially difficult. She refers to the new building as the distribution hub.

“It will hold everything we need to take care of the things people don’t see,” said Adams. “I always saw this group and these things as the forgotten part of our system. Now they’re not. Now they have a place where they can find things at night when something breaks in the system. We can take some of our equipment out of the sun.”

From left, front, are John Cammick (Greater Pine Island Water Association president), Laurie Adams (general manager) and Athena Ladue (customer service manager) with the GPIWA distribution crew looking on. PAULETTE LEBLANC

Adams said there are 163 miles of pipe in the system they currently care for. She said the change is huge and long overdue. She confesses that the long journey to building the new distribution center was hard to get to and so for her it will never get old.

“It will make a world of difference to the crew and our customers,” said Adams of an industry that gets little recognition until something goes wrong. “Every day that people have water…that’s what we’re doing.”

The building is at 5281 Pine Island Road, Bokeelia, FL 33922. Contact the GPIWA?at 239-283-1071.