Raising the Roof

POLSON — Visitors to the building site of Mission Valley Aquatics’ new indoor pool facility in Polson have seen some drastic changes to the structure in recent weeks.

“It has been an exciting year with construction of the facility well under way and moving fast,” project director Tana Seeley said of the building, which already has steel structure above the pool area, exterior walls and the roof currently going up.

The MVA board of directors chose to initiate construction in July after attaining 80 percent of the needed funding.

“We hoped that seeing the project begin would ignite more giving from the community,” Seeley said. “There was a surge of donations during the groundbreaking but since then, fundraising has slowed and costs have been higher than expected in some areas of construction.”

MVA is currently investigating the possibility of acquiring a low interest loan to maintain the building schedule and to give the group more time to fundraise. With another large push in the spring and summer months, it would hope to minimize the debt before opening the doors to the facility in August of 2012.

Recently, representatives from Mission Valley Aquatics attended a regional Build-a-Pool Conference organized by the USA Swimming Organization.

“The experts confirmed that our project is well designed and encouraged us to add the therapy pool now rather than later,” Seeley said. “Additional funding is critical as the construction unfolds and we strive to make good decisions for the aquatic center.”

Seeley said she hopes the community will contact her with suggestions for new donors or funding sources.

“We want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to contribute to this amazing community effort,” she said. “It was hard for people to see the construction going on for a while because of all the underground prepping going on after the groundbreaking. It’s getting really exciting now, you really feel like it’s there.”

Pledges to Mission Valley Aquatics can be made through the group’s website, www.mvaquatics.org. Forms can be downloaded online and mailed to Mission Valley Aquatic Center, P.O. Box 774 Polson, MT 59860.