Savannah pursues grant for a new aquatic facility
SAVANNAH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) – With the Savannah Aquatic Center closing down after its final season of being open, both Savannah officials and community members are working to defy the odds and keep hopes high with a new pool.
The Andrew County Aquatics Initiative, a campaigning platform looking to build a new swimming pool in Savannah, is pursuing a $500,000 Land and Water Conservation matching grant from the Missouri State Parks.
The original and existing facility, which was built 61 years ago, was funded by the same grant.
Diane Gould, the pool manager at the current pool location, said even though they will be building a new facility, officials want to keep it in the same location due to nostalgia.
“Our community has had this spot as our summer hangout for so long,” Gould said. “We'd like to kind of keep hold on to that. It also is accessible to all the kids in town by foot, by bike, and we wanted to make sure that the most as many kids as possible can access it and have a good time here."
Gould said the pool has been raising money for the last few weeks, and it is already receiving many donations.
“It's only been a couple of weeks and we are close to $35,000,” Gould said. “We got a really generous donation from Analisa Duncan, who is always a big supporter in our community. But other than that, it's really been from a lot of mom and pops and just residents who are wanting to see this happen."
The pool is hosting an event on Saturday, Sept. 6 to raise more money. Gould said she is hopeful that by the end of Saturday, they will raise $50,000.
“We're going to spring forth from that guns blazing, and keep finding people who want to make sure that the kids in this town continue to have a place to be in the summer for the next 61 years,” Gould said.
Currently, the pool doesn’t have an idea of what their new facility will look like, but they are hoping to get opinions from the community. Gould said the main priority is for the pool to be sustainable.
“We are going to be able to maintain it and have scheduled repairs and maintenance taken care of,” she said. “We want to make sure that whatever we do stays nice for years."
Gould also said kids in the community are heartbroken knowing they won't have a community pool to swim in next year.
“I just sit and think about, 'What are they going to do if they don't have this place and how is that going to impact those kids individually as well as the community?'" Gould said. “So I think I want the kids to know that there are adults in this town who want for them, desperately. And we're going to do everything that we can and work as hard as we can to make sure that they get it."
News-Press NOW will update this story.
