Red Lightning Community Collaboration Brings Hope for Lahaina Aquatic Center Reopening

We have received many inquiries regarding the status of the Lahaina Aquatic Center, Red Lightning’s involvement, and a tentative reopening date. The Lahaina Aquatic Center has been closed since the tragic fires of August 8, 2023. Remediation and repair work had been estimated to cost as much as $3 million Dollars*, posing significant financial and labor challenges to its reopening.

Key Partners and Volunteers

Red Lightning’s involvement would not have been possible without the support of our partners:

• The UPS Foundation

• The Salvation Army

• Airlink

• United Airlines

• Nearly 100 volunteers who provided over 800 hours of labor

We learned of the Aquatic Center’s needs while attending a weekly Lahaina community meeting, where we heard questions from community members about the pool’s status. Salvation Army Territorial Emergency Disaster Services Director John Berglund, who was in attendance, identified the Aquatic Center and other recreational parks as high priorities and asked our team to explore possibilities for support.

Our leadership teams met with County and Parks representatives on July 7, 2024. We assessed the Aquatic Center as a multi-phase, sequence-constrained project with two critical goals that needed to be completed before work on the pumps could begin, essential to reopening:

1. Remediating the locker, pump, and support rooms, and clearing debris from the facility.

2. Draining, safely removing debris, and cleaning the pool basin.

Both of these critical steps were required before:

3. Repair and maintenance work on the pumps and filter systems (expected to take 6-8 weeks by a 3rd party contractor).

Additional Work Needed:

• Re-outfitting pool and locker room equipment

• Landscaping work

• Repainting

• General upkeep and maintenance with a final cleaning immediately before reopening

With the support of our partners, we developed a plan focused on the first two primary goals. This plan was based on enlisting dedicated Red Lightning volunteers who could donate weeks of their summer vacation to support the project.

Our Red Lightning “backbone” volunteer team included Jill Norris (on her second Maui deployment), her daughter Kate Norris, Tyler Willis, Clayton Holding, William Hrasko, Jeff Jordan, Jhonatan Gonzalez Soto, Ashley Crowley, and Rachael Fast. They collectively donated hundreds of hours of work to the project and deserve special appreciation and recognition for their efforts.

This day-to-day team structure allowed local community volunteers to contribute when available, helping transition from facility remediation to debris removal from the pool basin—a herculean effort that would not have been possible without them.

We are particularly thankful to the Lahaina Swim Club, their long-time supporters, parents, swimmers, family members, and additional friends of the project who generously donated their time, resources, paint, equipment, and additional hundreds of hours of labor. Their efforts included removing debris from the pool and power washing the interior basin.

We are deeply grateful to The IUPAT, District Council 50, for repainting the Aquatic Center with paint donated by PPG Paints, as well as the landscapers on special workdays arranged for and supervised by Lecamieann Shiffler.

We want to recognize the hard work and critical insight of Andre Lacour, the Pool Maintenance Supervisor, who wisely recommended the advance purchase of a needed pool part, expediting the Aquatic Center’s opening by an additional 6-8 weeks.

Our work on the first two primary goals concluded on August 16, 2024, when repair work on the pumps and motors could finally begin. Since that time, the project has been under the supervision of the County and local volunteers.

We owe a special thank you to our remediation expert, Anthony Nelson, for his expertise and direction, and we also thank Joe Ruiz, Red Lightning’s VP of Strategic Partnerships, who initiated and coordinated directly with our corporate sponsors.

In summary, the Lahaina Aquatic Center project is a testament to what can be accomplished through the collaborative efforts of all involved—our sponsors, volunteers, supporters, and the community—when working together. It also opens the door for additional Red Lightning programs and support for Lahaina in the immediate future.

We wish to express our heartfelt thanks to all involved in this effort and celebrate the expected opening of the Lahaina Aquatic Center on October 11, 2024.

Michael Shiffler, CEO

Red Lightning

For media inquiries, please contact: adam@redlightning.com

*Source: https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2024/05/short-term-rental-ban-lahaina-aquatic-center-update-given-at-weekly-disaster-recovery-meeting/