WAYNESBORO – Dr. Kim Eaton believes if you put good out there, good comes back to you. And Eaton’s faith as CEO of the Waynesboro Area YMCA has paid off.
Thanks to the “incredible generosity” of donors, the Waynesboro Y has raised $305,000 of the $350,000 needed to keep the pool open.
The funds will be used to pay for a new filter and pump system, according to Eaton. “The pool won’t look any different. This is totally about the mechanism,” she added. In addition, a wall – 5 feet high by 3 feet deep and 17 feet long – will be built in the basement of the facility to reinforce the bottom of the pool. “We also moved the mechanics from the basement to the first floor,” Eaton said.
This journey was an unexpected one for Eaton after she took over the post in February 2024. “On my first day the maintenance and facilities director (MIke Decker) took me to the basement to see the pool’s operating system, and I realized, I have a big problem. We were limping along, losing so much water that our bill was doubled because of the leak.
“I knew this wasn’t the kind of thing that could be neglected. It might be OK for a couple more years or go out tomorrow. If we wait for this to fail, it will be a catastrophe. I’m not a gambler, and I didn’t want to risk it, so I said, ‘Let’s schedule this and we’ll get it done,'” Eaton said.
After consulting with Pool People Inc., Eaton learned that if she waited until the pool failed, it would take three or four months to get the needed parts. “I knew it was important to plan ahead to make this happen. Work started July 7 we’re on schedule to reopen Aug. 17 and hope it can be a little earlier,” she said.
“I also didn’t want to interrupt the season for the Waynesboro Area Senior High School swim team and the Y’s WAVES swim team – these kids are phenomenal, winning national awards and getting scholarships to college.” Those groups are using Northside Pool to practice, and the Y has an agreement with Waynesboro Country Club allowing its lap swimmers to use its pool from 9 to 11 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday with YMCA lifeguards on hand, she added.
Next for Eaton was launching the “Save Our Pool” fundraiser. “I’m part of a network of Y CEOs, and they said ‘nobody is going to give you money for repairs – they only want to donate to something new or an addition.’ And I said, ‘They’re going to have to.’”
The response has been “extremely heartwarming,” according to Eaton. “We’re very, very close to our goal, and I really believe we’re going to do it.”
The drive has included multiple pleas for contributions through emails and letters to members, past donors and businesses, etc., Eaton said. “I wrote a grant to the Nora Roberts Foundation, and she gave us $50,000 – that was pretty fabulous. Some people gave $5 … put change in the donation box on the counter, and we had some large donors. People gave what they could. I had a call from a woman who read about the fundraiser for the pool, and she gave us $5,000, and she doesn’t even live here. Some people have donated three times.
“I can’t say enough of how great everyone’s been. They have rallied behind the Y in its time of need and recognized what the Y has done for the community. So many people have learned to swim at the Y or gone to preschool or summer camp … everyone I meet has a Y story.”
