It's a beautiful thing when people join forces to help those in need, seeking no reward other than the smiles on their faces.
That's what happened in Eatonville, Fla., this spring. The residents of Eatonville had watched their community pool drift into disrepair and finally close due to lack of funding — a scenario played out in communities all across the country.
But this time, instead of just surrounding the former site of happy splashing, swimming and horseplay with a rusty chain-link fence and forgetting about the problem, a coalition of pool and spa companies stepped up and did something.
Led by Don Garden, chief operating officer at All Seasons Pools, these companies donated precious time, sweat and expensive equipment to turn a shuttered eyesore into a glistening aquatic playhouse. The group recognized what a crucial gathering point the Eatonville Community pool was, and they locked arms to bring it back to life. It truly was a case of coming together to help people come together.
The new pool will be a center of learning for those developing their swimming skills, and Step Into Swim pitched in with $20,000 to aid the effort. Shown here (below) along with Eatonville Community Members is, at left, swimming icon Rowdy Gaines, Don Garden, and SIS Board of Directors member Melissa Mishoe. Elsewhere can be found Carecraft CEO Greg Howard and our own Sabeena Hickman.
IT STARTS WITH AN IDEA
The Eatonville pool was once a staple of the community, with parties, swimming lessons and kids meeting up every day all summer. But it closed 10 years ago as deterioration became hazardous, and the community did not have the funds to bring it up to code.
Local resident Valerie Chambers grew up near the pool and bitterly rued its loss as it sat lonely for years, surrounded by weeds and half filled with green water. "I wished the pool was still open for the kids, because they couldn't experience [what I did growing up]," she told WFTV news.
That's when All Seasons Pool stepped in. The pool's funding problem surfaced again on local TV news last summer. Garden saw it and felt like he needed to do something. "So I just decided, 'Hey, I'm going to allocate our advertising money. We really haven't had to advertise the last few years — our referral rate has been like 65% of our business. Let's just allocate that money to fix the pool.'
"I mean, in anyone's career, how often do you have the opportunity to help an entire community?"
Garden reached out to the town and set up a meeting with the mayor and financial director and said, "I'll get it done for you guys, but nobody else can be involved because when there's a committee, nothing gets accomplished. That means I have to manage it, run it, own it, and it'll happen.
"And they said, 'Okay.'
In December Garden met again with the city, outlined all the renovations that were planned, and signed a contract to perform said renovations for $0. They would start January 10 and have the pool open by Memorial Day. The crews climbed in, took it down to the gunite shell and started from there.
EQUIPMENT POURS IN
As it always does in our tight-knit industry, word spread quickly about the project. Soon equipment companies got wind of the effort, and that Garden was funding it all himself. "They all started calling, saying, 'We want to be part of it.' Alliance pavers, Dandy Pool Corp, I mean, so many companies just stepped up, and something that should have cost $400,000 only ended up costing $100,000 because of all the generosity of all those industry partners."
Garden was truly humbled by the massive outpouring of support. "It was amazing — the value of the products that were donated. I mean, you got SR Smith's top of the line handrails and ladders and you've got a pool lift and equipment in the pump room and salt systems — and you've got really great two by two tiles for a really modern tile job. The renovation wasn't something that we just put a bandaid on, it looks like a pool that was just newly constructed in 2024. Everything is modern."
"It was a blessing," said Chambers simply.
THE MEANING BECOMES CLEAR
The meaning of the story is the way a single generous impulse can grow and multiply to the size of a monumental achievement. And once that spirit has gained momentum, it carries on under its own power.
To get the pool started off on the right foot, All Seasons committed to taking care of it until October, and others have stepped up to help cover ongoing costs.
"Some people are reaching out to donate money to cover service. An aircraft and a chemical company have each offered to donate a year's worth of chemicals. So that's really going to help. And then there's people in the community now that want to donate money for maintenance and swim lessons and events and stuff like that. So it's starting to grow."
The pool hosted a cookout event with kids from the local schools to celebrate the opening. Seeing the joyful faces gathered around the pool struck a chord in the staff of All Seasons, who had spent hours hammering out old finish and cutting in new equipment.
"The day after the event," Garden says, "I started getting texts from my employees. They said now they understood why we worked so hard to help bring back that pool."
This article first appeared in the August 2024 issue of AQUA Magazine — the top resource for retailers, builders and service pros in the pool and spa industry. Subscriptions to the print magazine are free to all industry professionals. Click here to subscribe.
