POTTSTOWN >> We may be scanning the weather report for signs of snow and freezing temperatures, but the folks who run the North End Swimming Club in Pottstown are thinking summer.
And they’re worried.Like so many other pool clubs in southeastern Pennsylvania, North End, located off North Adams Street, is facing the financial pincher-pressure from fewer members and higher costs.
“My kids grew up at North End Pool and there were so many families there when I moved away 15 years ago,” said Debbie Bumbaugh, who has moved back to the Pottstown area and runs the concession stand at the pool.
“Each year it becomes more and more difficult to open the pool,” she said. “We’re running on a thread.”
So that’s why Bumbaugh decided, with the permission of the board of directors, to undertake a “GoFundMe” campaign.
For those of you unfamiliar with this term, GoFundMe is a website that allows people or organizations to raise money through pledges over the Internet.
You can find it at: https://www.gofundme.com/9j-save-our-pool
Bumbaugh said the campaign’s goal is to raise $20,000.
She estimated that these days, including taxes, it takes close to $100,000 a year to clean, maintain and operate the pool.
“Only a few decades ago the pool was busting at its seams with 450-plus families and a long waiting list of families hoping to join. Through the hard work of its first members the pool and grounds were proudly maintained year after year,” she wrote on the introduction.
“But as the saying goes, ‘all good things must come to an end….’ Hard economic times have taken their toll on the Pottstown area, membership has dropped significantly and is currently at only 239 families, and the pool underwent a very costly face-lift,” Bumbaugh wrote. “Every season it becomes increasingly more difficult to operate and maintain this beautiful recreational facility.”
“We’ve tried a couple of different things for fundraisers, the usual, hoagie sales and fundraising events, but its always the same families who participate they can only raise so much money, so now we’re trying this,” she said.
“Back in the day, we had a working board of 12 to 15 members and the members took care of the grounds and volunteered freely,” said Bumbaugh. “Our board now is four moms who all work full-time and we have to pay for everything – and everything is always full price.”
“The community is different now, Pottstown is different, and people work and come home they just want to relax at home,” Bumbaugh said. “When my kids were growing up, we packed a lunch, stayed for swim team, we spent the whole day there.”
“It seems like the idea of going to a public pool in the summer is dying,” she said, adding this may be the pool’s last attempt to raise money.
Membership is $450 a season for a family, with discounts for seniors and those who just want to swim on swim team.
North End is not the only area pool struggling to (forgive me) keep its head above water.
Most recently, West Pottsgrove Township took over the Colonial Pool, which closed for non-payment of taxes, but has struggled to find a business model to keep the pool open for the community and cover costs.
The company hired to run that pool closed it in mid-season due to financial trouble.
