Endicott club donates $7,000 for pool boiler

Front: Louise Owens, Jerine Gray, Carol Larsen and Cinda Tribble of the Endicott Community Club, and Nancy and Tony Anderson of Parks and Rec. Back: Anne Lowe, Sue Bafus, Laura Jones and Myrna Morasch of the Endicott Community Club.

The need for a new boiler at the Endicott pool is one step closer to being fulfilled thanks to a donation from the Endicott Community Club. The club donated $7,000 to the pool Jan. 21.

The donation came as a surprise to pool manager Nancy Anderson, who said she had heard “through the grapevine” about a potential donation, but was not expecting it.

“I did not know until the Wednesday before,” said Anderson. “I had no idea until the community club president told me, and I was just so excited and jumping up and down.”

The $7,000 donation, which was raised through the Community Club’s annual German dinner night, covers the majority of the cost for a new boiler. Anderson said she was quoted $7,000 to purchase the boiler, but that does not include the cost of installation. She said some funds already raised through fundraisers and donations will be able to cover the cost of installation.

“Hopefully we should be good,” said Anderson.

Anderson added that even though the large donation has come in, the pool is still accepting donations because there are still other projects that need to be completed.

“Anything helps,” she said. “The pool also needs to be repainted this year.”

The cost to repaint the pool comes in at around $2,000.

“And there’s lots of little things that need love,” said Anderson.

The pool’s boiler started failing last summer, and Anderson said they were lucky to even make it through the season last year.

“It didn’t totally die, but we had issues with one of the coils on the inside that started to leak,” she said. “We bypassed that and took it out, so the boiler wasn’t running as efficiently.”

The boiler would likely not make it through another season. Anderson said she plans to purchase the new boiler as soon as possible.

“As soon as the check is deposited, I am going to place the order,” she said.

Anderson said that after the pool closed last season, she worried about how to come up with the funding for the new boiler.

“I was kind of discouraged. I just really didn’t know where to begin,” she said.

She said she hoped to conduct some dinner fundraisers, but really was not “experienced in that kind of thing.” The donation, she said, was such a relief.

“This is a blessing,” said Anderson. “I’m so excited. It’s a weight off my mind.”

She added that she is grateful to the community for its support.

“I’m just really grateful to our community and even people outside our community who helped us out,” said Anderson. “I love that our community loves our pool and that they are willing to step up when needed.”

Anderson said that Community Club President Cinda Tribble told her people had contacted the club specifically to donate to the pool fund.

The expected life expectancy of a swim pool boiler is about five years, Anderson said.

“Ours has completely, totally outlived its life expectancy,” she said, noting it has been in use for at least 12 years.

The new boiler will be installed by Tony Anderson prior to the pool’s opening for summer.