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Scranton Free Swim Program Expanded

SCRANTON — Some neighbors in Scranton were first to start buying season swim passes for families in need. Their idea got much bigger when the city receive...
scr nay aug pool

SCRANTON — Some neighbors in Scranton were first to start buying season swim passes for families in need.

Their idea got much bigger when the city received a $10,000 donation to help kids swim for free at Nay Aug Park.

Swimming was on the minds of a lot of people in Scranton with the temperatures up around 90 most of the day

Allied Services handed the city of Scranton a check for $10,000 on Wednesday. The money was meant to defray the cost of swimming at Nay Aug Park, the only pool with a fee in Scranton. That donation expanded a program that was already underway for families in need.

By 11:45 each morning, the line outside the Nay Aug Park pool in Scranton begins to form, families with their $5 a piece in hand waiting, for the doors to open at noon.

The admission price at this particular city pool has gotten a lot of attention lately.

Should everyone have to pay?

Lindsey Tutino of Scranton has taken her two kids to Nay Aug Park a few times this summer and says it adds up.

“I mean, $15 for three days in a row, plus lunches, you know, bring sandwiches and hoagies and what not, it gets pretty expensive after one week,” Tutino said.

Tutino was one of more than 100 people to sign up for a free family season pass for the Nay Aug Park pool. The city is drawing from a $10,000 donation by Allied Services.

Families can apply at the Weston Field House on Providence Road. Officials are asking for an access card and drivers’ license from each family.

“I have had the phone ringing off the hook all morning since it hit the paper and last night. Before that Ozzie Quinn was giving them out in the hill section,” said Tom Lynch, Scranton Parks and Recreation.

Ozzie Quinn and the Hill Neighborhood Association were first to start raising money for swim passes.

The idea’s gotten a bit bigger since the organization started raising money on its own a few weeks ago.

“I’m getting deluged, I’m getting deluged with people. Put all the names on one card.”

There’s was a steady line of people applying at the Hill Neighborhood Association office on Prescott Avenue, too.

Patti Hamlin who says her three kids will have a much better summer now.

“It will make things a lot more bearable, not sweating and complaining, wishing I could take them to the pool but I can’t take them to the pool because I don’t have the money. This helps,” Hamlin said.

City Officials say they will give out season passes to swim at Nay Aug as long as that $10, 000 donation lasts. There are still passes available.

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