charity
Every time there's an earthquake in any populated place on the planet, my heart and thoughts go out to those who made it through the experience and to the families and friends of those who didn't. The recent deadly quake in Nepal is another in a long line of seismic events that trigger memories of my own experiences when the ground has started
Security Guard Photographs Ghost at Swimming Pool
The past couple weeks have seen an unusual number of good-news items cross my desk. Let’s start with the Association of Pool & Spa Professionals’ announcement of the formation of World of Recreational Water, a new foundation that will promote the sustainable use of recreational water worldwide. Back when Eric Herman and I spent many long hours
Just a month ago, I wrote in this space about the generosity of a group of watershapers and landscape designers who planted a park in a Rochester, N.Y., neighborhood that definitely needed a boost. Ever since, it seems, I have kept running into reports of genuine, aquatically related community spirit. In many cases, for example, threatened closures of public swimming pools have been
Wanting to soften and humanize the austere appearance of a new facility for homeless families, the benefactors of the Orange County Rescue Mission in Tustin, Calif., commissioned an unusual watershape. The idea pulled watershaper Mark Holden and project manager Jim Bucklin into a whirlwind in which they had to create unique systems to accommodate the world’s largest ceramic amphora – and do so within an extraordinarily tight deadline. What happens when one of the country’s wealthiest philanthropists provides funding for a truly unique art piece in support of a favorite cause? The short answer is, everyone jumps to make it happen. That was literally the situation when a nonprofit organization that serves the needs of homeless families received a donation from its largest benefactor to fund construction of an unusual fountain system. The waterfeature, we learned, was to support the world’s largest amphora, which at that time was just being completed by a Danish artist. Destined for the courtyard of a new facility about to be
One of the greatest epiphanies I’ve ever had as a watershaper came many years ago when I was asked to tell a group of businesspeople what I did for a living. I’d been invited to attend a meeting of the Miami Chamber of Commerce and, as a newcomer, was asked to say a few words about my company and my work. I was to go second: The first speaker was in the carpet-cleaning business and, as I recall vividly, described what he did in such a way that it would’ve been a great cure for insomnia. Standing up after his sleep-inducing performance, I was
