Friends Of Hoyt Park & Pool Launch Community Support Drive

Press release from Friends of Hoyt Park & Pool:

Sept. 1, 2020

TOSA Pool, The Landing and the Grand Hall exist because of the community support and generosity that helped bring them to life. We need your help so we can continue to serve you in the years ahead. If everyone who receives this message gave just $25, it would give us the stability we need to confidently anticipate our 2021 season. We hope we can return to being the vibrant community gathering place that we all love. It’s never easy asking for help, so we wanted to make it a little fun. Rather than just ask for your support, we decided to create The Community Support Drive Drawing.

• Donate $25 to $99, and you will be entered into a drawing to win a $50 gift card that can be used at The Landing or TOSA Pool.

• Donate $100 to $249, and you will be entered into a drawing to win a free family membership to TOSA Pool for 2021.

• Donate $250 to $999, and you will be entered into a drawing to win a Splash Party for 25, in addition to receiving all the benefits of our Community Supporter level donors.

• Donate $1000 or more and you will be entered into a drawing to win a private evening pool rental for the 2021 season, in addition to receiving all the benefits of our Bronze Guard level donors

The drawings will take place on November 1, 2020. All donations received between 12:01 a.m. September 1, 2020 and 11:59 p.m. on October 31, 2020 are entered into the drawing. FOHPP staff will select a random winner for each prize drawing on Sunday, November 1, 2020. Winners will be contacted directly by FOHPP staff immediately following the drawing. Staff and board members of FOHPP are not eligible to win.

Please consider a donation during September and October as we close down the 2020 summer season and look forward to a safer, more “social” 2021 at TOSA Pool, Grand Hall and The Landing!

Why we are asking for help:

Friends of Hoyt Park & Pool started as a labor of love long before our beautiful facility opened in 2011 as TOSA Pool at Hoyt Park. Our nonprofit organization was formed in 2006 by citizens like you who took on the mission of restoring a treasured community gathering place, in the heart of Hoyt Park. As we excitedly made plans for our 10th season at TOSA Pool, the month of March brought the incredible challenges we are all dealing with.

We’ve always been dedicated to serving the community, so we made the decision early on to do everything possible to open safely. Through an incredible show of support from the community, business sponsors, and people like you who stepped forward and purchased memberships in the face of uncertainty, we were able to open for our 10th season. Being open provided much-needed recreation for our community during a time when many others were left with nothing, and for that we will be forever grateful.

• Members and nonmembers alike were able to swim and maintain a little piece of summer, when many other activities were simply not available.

• Wauwatosa Recreation classes were able to continue, providing swim lessons and exercise programs for the community.

• The Landing provided an opportunity for families and close friends to spread out in a safe, outdoor atmosphere, helping to overcome the loneliness of the lockdown.

• We were able to provide summer jobs to over 100 high school and college students who depend on summer work to fund their studies and gain vital work and leadership skills.

We are so thankful we were able to provide these vital services this past season, but doing it responsibly and safely came at a cost.

We needed to restrict our capacity severely, which not only made it difficult for some members to access the pool, but also dramatically impacted the daily admissions that fund our operations. For the year, our membership was down 39% and our daily admissions were reduced by 67%.

The Landing beer garden seating capacity was restricted and live music was canceled, which caused activity at the beer garden to be reduced by 40%.

Also an important source of income for our organization, event and Grand Hall rental activity was dramatically cut.

The Staff and Board of Friends of Hoyt Park & Pool thank you for your support and for allowing us to serve our community.

This press release was produced by Friends of Hoyt Park & Pool. The views expressed here are the author's own.