trained. With only two days to go before the pool at S.H. Armstrong Community
Centre was slated to close, the Daniels Corporation and the Sierra Building
Group have offered up $30,000 and $15,000 respectively to keep it open. Coun.
Paula Fletcher said her municipal counterparts will need to approve the
donations, and council also needs to kick in another $10,000, before kids could
get back in the water in September. "This was a case where the city council
didn't make a great decision and are now going to get a chance to reverse it,"
the Toronto-Danforth councillor said. When the pool's future was threatened in
February, the community rallied around it. [caption id="attachment_7053"
align="alignleft" width="640"]

Ward 30 Toronto-Danforth Councillor Paula Fletcher (right) and Councillor
Mary-Margaret McMahon (Ward 32, Beaches-East York) share a hug Sunday, Feb. 12
as they address a rally held at S.H. Armstrong Community Centre in support of
the centre's swimming pool, which is at risk of being closed down.[/caption]
Angie Law's son Keagan is a member of The Sharks, the pool's swim team. Law is a
vocal participant in a
Save SH Armstrong Facebook group
and said others can learn from what the pool's community has been able to
accomplish. "Social media has been a huge tool for publicity," said Law. "Those
tools are available to community centres, they should be reaching out to the
parents." Law said when the decision was first made to close the pool there had
been no community consultation. It may have seemed like no one was taking
advantage of the programming but, according to Law, that was due to inconvenient
class times. For example, a program offered to preschoolers was scheduled for 6
p.m. "Do you know a single mother who would be willing to take their
four-year-old out in winter in the evening?" When the centre found out residents
were willing to take classes on Sundays, the number of participants climbed. The
rate of use at the pool has shot up since February and is now up to 89 per cent
— 20 percentage points higher than when it was slated to close, Fletcher told
CBC Toronto.
Law admits that she enjoys the pool as much for herself as she does for her
child. Sunday swim practice became a time for her to sit in the gallery and
catch up with other parents. "It's a meeting place, that's what a community
centre should be," said Law. Fletcher said if the donation is approved the pool
will reopen, one of 26 others run by the Toronto District School Board.
"Swimming means endurance and perseverance," the councillor said. "This
community has endured and persevered to get the pool back open, and I certainly
hope city council will give it that chance."