The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG—The Prescott Joint Park and Recreation District received a $50,000 Sherwood Trust Core Grant to aid with pool repairs and facility improvements earlier this month. The District was one of 12 area organizations to receive grant distributions totaling $949,000.

Prescott Joint Park and Recreation District Manager Yvonne Jackson applied for the grant in January and said the District is grateful to have been selected.

“We were one of very few that received funding. My understanding is that they had $9 million in grant applications,” she said.

Jackson applied for $50,000 to help address multiple issues with the pool that was constructed in approximately 1957.

“Since the inception of the pool, the shower rooms have been serviced by a single 50-gallon propane hot water heater. Because of the location of that hot water heater, the women’s showers were sometimes warm, and the men’s showers were never warm,” she said.

First on the list of improvements will be the installation of separate, on-demand hot water heaters for both shower rooms.

The second priority is the removal of concrete, excavation, and replacement of concrete and gravel necessary to identify and repair existing PVC pipe leaks, Jackson said.

“We only lose an inch or two a day, but over the surface of the pool, that is considerable. Probably 400-500 gallons a day,” she said.

Additional concrete work will include a 12’x70’ deck addition on the west side of the pool.

“Because Dayton’s pool is closed, and because that is probably not going to be a quick fix for them, we need additional seating space for large groups,” Jackson said.

Remaining funds will go toward the placement of infrastructure that will eventually be used to install an underground sprinkling system on the District-owned pasture on the west side of A Street.

A couple of years ago, the District planted drought-resistant grass and has been watering with a hose and sprinkler, which is time consuming and inefficient, Jackson said.

She said the Park and Rec Board is still bouncing around ideas for using the property, which the pool also drains into. Suggestions have included Frisbee football and horseshoe pits, among others.

“It’s going to take some good thought to know what they want to do with it and they’re still giving it consideration,” Jackson said.

Sherwood Trust Core Grants are the primary focus of the Trust’s grantmaking and are typically for requests over $20,000. They are awarded to aid the organization or the community’s capacity to thrive.

Sherwood Trust Impact Grants, new in 2018, are awarded for smaller projects with requests between $5000-$20,000 and a total project budget of under $75,000. Priority is given to ideas that promote collaboration and kindness.

Other 2019 Core Grant recipients are:

Blue Mountain Action Council - $150,000, new headquarters renovation

Blue Mountain Action Council - $135,000, general operating support

Milton-Freewater Junior Show - $57,000, ADA bathroom/maintenance

City of Walla Walla - $30,000, Veterans Memorial Pool addition

Frazier Farmstead Museum - $40,000, ADA bathroom/ maintenance

Fort Walla Walla Museum $114,000, three-year operations manager position

Whitman College - $107,000, pilot to hire staff for student consulting program to nonprofits

Community Council - $100,000, general operating support

Trilogy Recovery Community - $66,000, hiring and development of communications director

Children’s Home Society of Walla Walla - $40,000, operating costs of the family navigator program

Legal Counsel for Youth and Children - $30,000hire of Walla Walla lawyer to provide services for homeless youth

Community Resilience Initiative - $25,000, general operating expenses

Grant application deadlines are March 1, with a letter of interest required for Core Grants by Feb. 22. Learn more at http://www.sherwoodtrust.org.