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The YMCA has received a grant from the National ‘Y’ and other organizations have donated money to help their summer pool program in different areas.

“We’ve received a grant from National ‘Y’ for the continuity of our summer pool program,” YMCA program director Toni St. Philip said. “We are redoing the entire pool. It’s going to look like a brand new pool.”

The pool is getting new plaster and making everything smoother. Another area it will help is with eliminating the leaks from the pool.

They are also putting in a new filtration system.

“The old filter that was in here, that 5,000-pound monster that was here from the 1950s, is now gone,” St. Philip said. “They hauled it out and we are replacing it with a triple-filtration system and so everything is going to be nice, new and fresh. That’s our start. We’re going to move on even further with that. Eventually, we’re redoing the cement and we’re moving into the pool houses after that, but that’s not with this particular grant.”

Work on the pool began last Wednesday and is expected to take two-to-three weeks to complete.

“Once the pool gets open and we can get this done, we will be opening the pool under a limited capacity because of the COVID right now,” St. Philip said. “But it will open and we will keep it open through parts of October. So our program has extended because of starting late as well.”

The grant also allowed them to upgrade equipment used by lifeguards, training their lifeguards and those taking swimming classes for things like lessons, exercise and therapy.

YMCA CEO Stuart Parker said the YMCA is working on another grant that is just about to be submitted to redo the poolhouse. The upgrades will include redoing the roof, replacing all of the fixtures, adding a storage room and installing new lights around the pool.