The YWCA dives into a fund-raiser, hoping to raise $75,000 for pool renovation.

LEWISTON – Fire squirt guns in the work place. Pelt co-workers with water balloons. Or dunk a boss.

“That would work,” said Kim Finnerty, an organizer behind a catch-all fund-raiser titled “Splash for Cash.”

The goal is to collect $75,000, money to renovate the pool at Lewiston’s YWCA, where Finnerty works as the assistant aquatics director.

“It’s a harsh environment,” said Finnerty, overlooking the pool area through glass windows.

Inside, the carpet is worn and faded. Tile is cracked in places. The locker rooms need sprucing up. The chair used to help lower people with handicaps into the water is gone. It broke.

Despite all that, the pool, about 25 yards long and 42 feet wide, remains heavily used.

Most weeks, between 900 and 1,100 people swim here on average. They include older folks, children, adults and people with a variety of disabilities. It’s also used by local police and as the home pool for Lewiston High School’s swim teams.

All of that use has simply left it rough around the edges.

“We’ve gotten the word out to our members,” said Pam Gallant, the YWCA’s aquatic director. But more money is needed.

So, she and Finnerty hope to get businesses to join the drive. A few have started.

The Hartford Agency in Lewiston raised several hundred dollars from a water balloon toss in its parking lot. For a donation, employees were encouraged to toss the balloons at Marketing Vice President Justin Hartford.

Other companies from throughout the area might do the same thing, said Gallant. Or they could come up with their own ideas.

It might be something as simple as drinking a cup of water together by the drinking fountain, said Finnerty.

“If it includes water, we’ll find a way,” she said.

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