It assuredly wasn’t a request they wanted to make.

During Monday’s Zelienople Council meeting, leaders from the Zelienople Memorial Skate Park committee stepped to the microphone to update borough officials on progress at the park.

Earthwork is ongoing, the concrete bowls are poured, and if the current pace of work continues, the project will be completed by the end of November.

That’s when the conversation became a little more unpleasant.

With the project, which has been 10 years in the making, ready to wrap up, officials face a sizable funding shortfall. Although some figures remain unknown, the number could be as high as $69,000.

The project has been a labor of love not just for those directly involved, but also for the community as a whole. Serving to honor Seneca Valley students Trevor Barkley, Sam Bucci and Elijah Lunsford, who died in a vehicle accident in 2010, the Zelienople community has rallied around making the dream of the skate park a reality.

Funding has come from grants, which committee officials worked hard to obtain. The remainder has mostly come from community donations.

A majority of those have come each spring during Lenten fish fries, which have become a community staple.

In their address to council Monday, officials said they intended to keep holding fish fries, with one season’s events bringing in roughly $30,000 to $35,000.

That still leaves a balance, however, and with the project wrapping up, that balance must be paid before the major fundraisers are slated. Council agreed to call a meeting of the finance committee to see what could be done to provide “bridge money” for the project.

The borough is often approached with requests for funding, be it for community festivals or other charitable causes. On an already tight budget, those small requests can add up. The skate park request likely trumps all of those donations combined.

However, we believe the project offers something special to the community. As officials noted, it stands to attract visitors to the borough to skate the bowls and rails. Anything to bring visitors and money to the borough is a great thing.

But this project also means more. It’s a testament to a community working together to accomplish a goal. What the committee is asking for is not a handout, but simply some assistance. A commitment has been made to pay back at least a majority of the funds.

We hope borough leaders can find a way to help cover expenses, challenging as it may be. In the interim, we hope the community can come together one more time to finish a project that will mean so much to so many.