When the Lansford Pool closed in 2015, a group of volunteers came together with the goal of reopening it.

Over the last five years, the Friends of Lansford Recreation have worked hard to raise thousands to make it a reality.

“In the summertime there’s a beautiful resource here that we hope could be something for the kids,” said Nathan Halenar, the organization’s president.

The Lansford Pool, built in the 1940s, created summer memories for generations.

Some of the Friends of Recreation members can recall days cooling off after playing sports, and meeting new friends.

That’s part of what inspires them to revitalize the pool for a new generation of youth in the Panther Valley.

“I’m sure everyone in the area has their own memories of how that affects them, how those kinds of things impact their life,” said Jared Soto, the organization’s vice president.

“If we can bring that to other people’s lives, that’s our goal going forward.”

The Friends group started shortly after the pool closed.

While its official 501(c)3 name is Friends of Lansford Recreation, it is also known as the Friends of the Lansford Pool.

They set an ambitious goal in pledging to raise the money needed to reopen the facility, and they have stuck to it.

“After five years a lot of organizations might disband. We’re hanging in there. We’re small but mighty,” said Gwyneth Collevechio, the organization’s treasurer.

They work alongside the borough of Lansford, which owns the pool. The borough’s council has also worked at obtaining funds for the project. They obtained a $35,000 grant for the pool.

2020 was a challenging year for all organizations. The friends group, however, had a lot to celebrate - both in their fundraising and actual work on the pool.

The pandemic forced them to adapt their events. For several years they parked cars at Panther Valley football games. But with limited or no fans at most games, that was out.

But they focused on their most successful fundraisers, like holding soup sales and chicken dinners in the pool park. With COVID, they adapted them to a drive thru.

“We really did fine with the six sales we had,” Collevechio said.

Construction wise, the borough began work to find and repair the leak which has caused the pool to be closed the last five summers.

And over the summer, a group of volunteers from Panther Valley High School, many of them members of National Honor Society, helped paint the buildings at the facility. When they started it was only expected to be a few nights of work but they ended up working over nine weeks, bringing some fresh color to the complex. Panther Valley Lumber provided the materials at cost.

The cooperation was an example of how the community continues to come together to preserve a landmark and give local kids a place to enjoy during the summer.

“People who were friends of friends, some we didn’t even know, the community was just absolutely amazing this year. We couldn’t ask for anything else,” said Yvonne Stoffey, secretary of Friends of Lansford Recreation.