FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LACPF: Announces the Covington Critter Crawl to Raise Money for the Los Altos Community Pool

Los Altos, California, July 18, 2007 – The Covington Swim team will host a Swim-a-thon/Critter Crawl on July 25, 2007 at the Mountain View High School Pool from 3:30-6:30pm. This is just like a walk-a-thon except it takes place in the pool; and kids, coaches and parents will be swimming.

The Covington Swim Team has over 250 members from age 4-18 and has not had a home pool for over eight years since the demolition of the old Covington Pool. They have poked fun at their predicament and “have self titled ourselves as Covington Swim Team, homeless, yet dangerous,” according to their coach Alexandra Desmond. They rent a pool every spring and summer and have been fortunate to call Mt. View High School their temporary home for the past few years.

The Los Altos Community Pool Foundation has been working for years to build them a home pool. After much deliberation and many political battles the pool has been approved and is well underway with fundraising activities. The fundraising efforts are focused on building the pool one lane at a time by breaking the lanes and dollar amounts into mini campaigns. Each lane is valued at approximately $600,000. Los Altos Masters is sponsoring a lane; Los Altos Downtown Merchants and business leaders are sponsoring another lane and so on.

The Critter Crawl is an effort to help the Covington Swim Team fund their lane. To date they are a 1/4 of the way toward their goal of 600,000 with approximately $150,000 in donations already collected. The Critter Crawl has a two fold goal: 100% participation and to reach their lane goal of $600,000. They do not expect to raise this kind of money during the swim-a-thon, but are looking for ways for the children to participate and provide community members with an opportunity to support the pool and more importantly, a great way to give back to the community.

“My daughter swims, I grew up swimming at the old Covington pool, and our family is enjoying so many things that my parents, long time Los Altos residents, initiated and supported. (Festival of Lights Parade, Pet Parade, El Camino Hospital, Los Altos Village Association and more.) Now it is our turn to step in and make our mark and do our part. Swimming is a wonderful, lifetime sport, while giving back to the Community just feels good!” says Maridee Charlton, Covington Swim Team parent Community Pool Foundation Executive Board Member.