In A Time Of COVID

As the Severna Park Community Center (SPCC) stood waiting for its doors to open again, staff were busy inside getting ready. Ready for a return to normal. Ready to redefine normal in a time of a pandemic. And ready to ensure that all systems were operating properly, for that day when the doors would open again.

And as those doors remained closed, it became evident that the main pool, the very pulse of the center’s busy hub of activity, was in trouble.

Serious cracks in the pool had begun to threaten the structural integrity of this vital resource. Water levels, dropping rapidly, indicated a leak. Something had to be done. Fast.

The center had to act quickly to ensure that future swimmers, young and old, could continue to call SPCC home. The fact that the pool was already closed meant that emergency repairs could begin before those doors would open again.

Not the best time to do a $100,000 repair – with the center closed and available funds to maintain the property diminishing quickly. The cost to run a building is about the same, even if it’s not currently in use. Systems must be checked and maintained.

So, we asked ourselves, how do you operate in a time of COVID? In a time of global pandemic, in a time of global crisis? How do you ensure that the infrastructure, vital to the community at large, remains in place to once again serve?

With deliberation. With care. With hope that the community will return, and the funds depleted to repair will be once again restored to care for the rest of the building. And, with an eye to the long-term impact that decisions made now will have down the road.

And finally, with an understanding that the pool, and the center as a whole, has a responsibility to the community it serves to remain a resource, even in a time of COVID.

The work had to be done. So, despite the cost, the repairs were made, and the pool was repaired, and given a full facelift, complete with new in-pool steps. After more than 50 years serving the community (the original pool was built in the late 1960s), this gem was ready to greet visitors once again.

And now - the work is done. The pool is once again waiting for the arrival of those who will swim for fun, for recreation, for revival, and for fellowship and community. Because at the heart of it all, SPCC stands for the community, even in a time of COVID.