Frequently Asked Questions

In partnership with the Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC), SwimHershey is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on providing greater aquatics education, access, and opportunity to Derry Township and the regional community. Especially to those less fortunate where we work and live.

Creating the SwimHershey Aquatic Center is central to fulfilling our mission, which is designed to complement pool facilities with different designs in the community, close the critical gap of developmental water in the region, bring the life sport of swimming to more residents, and allow greater access and opportunity to sports beyond competitive swimming, including underserved aquatics activities such as Artistic Swimming, Water Polo, and Diving.

SwimHershey was founded in 2020 by members of our community who live, work, and raise families in the Hershey, PA area. We are an organization of aquatics athletes, coaches, aquatics industry leaders, parents, healthcare professionals and business leaders—all passionate advocates for aquatic sports. SwimHershey is partnered with regional and national governing bodies, corporations and community organizations - all focused on greater aquatics access and opportunity.

As such, we know the life-long health & wellness benefits aquatic sports bring to the lives of young people and adults. We are devoted to making these benefits accessible to everyone, and giving back to the Community.

SwimHershey was founded to help fill the desperate need for development water in our region and accommodate the demand for competition-level high school and club swimming and diving, water polo, artistic swimming, practice space, clinics, competitions, diversity opportunities, and more. The center-point of our mission is our 50 Meter facility, which is designed specifically to complement existing water in Hershey with increased competitive development water to meet the needs of age-group and adult athletes. The design of our facility is unique to the area, and has two movable bulkheads allowing for multiple simultaneous aquatics activities and formats unavailable to single use pools (e.g., diving and swimming events, training and competition, or artistic swimming and water polo at the same time).

Community impact programs are a major part of our nonprofit mission. Working with local, regional, and national partners, including the USA Swimming Foundation and major corporate partners, SwimHershey is developing unique community-based programs for athletes of all ages and backgrounds.

The statistics on drowning are staggering. Drowning is still the leading cause of death for kids under 5 and the second leading cause for kids under 14. Drowning impacts all demographics but hits much more disproportionately those from lower income households. In fact, a reported 79 percent of children in families with household income less than $50,000 have no/low swimming ability. Too many local kids still fall through the cracks.

When we put percentages like those above against the number of school lunch program eligible kids, which is growing upwards of 20% in our area, we see a massive opportunity for SwimHershey to impact the health and well-being of area youth. As proven around the country, these partnerships between organizations like SwimHershey, municipalities, school districts and all local facilities target those youth among us left behind by the affordability factor and cultural divide which are common in all communities.

Our vision and plan is to stand up a community impact program, before the facility is built, in partnership with national governing bodies and township leaders to save lives and build more local champions as we expand access and opportunity across aquatic sports.

SwimHershey is a private nonprofit corporation and is funding the facility and its partnership programs through philanthropy and grants. In fact, SwimHershey’s business model brings the gift of greater aquatics access and opportunity to our area at no cost to the Township or local taxpayer.

Already through generous start-up investments by corporate and private funders, our “Bring it Home” capital campaign has helped us assemble the leading aquatics consultants, governing bodies, builders, manufacturers, fundraising specialists, and corporate sponsors in industry to make our regional aquatics center and partner programs a success.

SwimHershey will generate revenue for Derry Township and the regional Community! SwimHershey and Hershey Harrisburg Sports & Events Authority have estimated that between $1.25-$1.9M for every 2-3 day, medium to large aquatics events, providing potential for millions of dollars annually in economic impact to local businesses. The SwimHershey facility will also provide new jobs, opportunity and wellness programs for the community in cooperation with the Township, governing bodies like USA Swimming, and partner corporations.

SwimHershey is currently in the Quiet Leadership Gift Phase of its capital campaign to make this new aquatic center a reality. Stay tuned for more information on how you can support, and email info@swimhershey.org with questions.

No. SwimHershey is a private not-for-profit corporation and is funding the facility and its partnership programs through philanthropy and grants. SwimHershey’s business model brings the gift of greater aquatics access and opportunity to our area at no cost to the Township or local taxpayer.

In fact, SwimHershey will generate revenue for Derry Township and the regional Community! SwimHershey and Hershey Harrisburg Sports & Events Authority have estimated that between $1.25-$1.9M for every 2-3 day, medium to large aquatics events, providing potential for millions of dollars annually in economic impact to local businesses. The SwimHershey facility will also provide new jobs, opportunity and wellness programs for the community in cooperation with the Township, governing bodies like USA Swimming, and partner corporations.

SwimHershey is currently in the Quiet Leadership Gift Phase of its capital campaign to make this new aquatic center a reality.

Stay tuned for more information on how you can support, and email info@swimhershey.org with questions.

See HHSEA’s letter at the following link: HHSEA Letter

With its unique, multiple-bulkhead, 50 Meter design, SwimHershey will complement other facilities in the community which are designed and programmed differently. SwimHershey will complement and strive to work closely with our local facilities like DTCC.

The aquatics market shows nationally that successful community aquatics, from drowning prevention and early learn to swim through competition, depends on a close partnership between facilities, aquatic clubs, community partners and the municipality. With this partnership, the installation of facilities like SwimHershey help all local facilities grow and be more successful than they could have been alone.

SwimHershey, and its 501(c)(3) mission of providing greater access and opportunity to development water, has been working with the Township for two years on constructing a facility that complements existing Township water with much needed deeper, colder water suited for the increasing demand for training and competitive water across swimming, diving, artistic swimming and other sports.

Our vision is that SwimHershey and Derry Township will be invested in aquatics success – together – and demand for all water will increase through SwimHershey’s presence in the community. Athletes, coaches, families, educators, and aquatic sports fans from all walks of life are endorsing this project due to the lack of this kind of facility in the region and the significant access and opportunity it brings.

MORE WATER = STRONGER COMMUNITY

Lastly, our facility is designed to meet the specifications set by major governing bodies and will be able to host larger and major regional events—for young and old alike. These events will provide millions of dollars in economic impact to area businesses.

The SwimHershey aquatic center will be conveniently tucked away from the Hershey Community off of Crystal A Drive.

SwimHershey strives to complete the facility as soon as possible. Our completion date will be determined primarily from our ability to raise capital and obtain final approvals at the state and local levels. Stay tuned for timeline updates on our website.

No. SwimHershey has been working closely through the Township Planning Commission process, where studies have shown minimal changes required and little additional traffic at its location, tucked conveniently north of town off of Crystal A Drive in Derry Township.

SwimHershey’s land and facility have been established as a Permitted Use, and careful traffic studies are being benchmarked off of similar facilities nationally.

A note on dedicated aquatics facilities: Although special events will eventually be a part of annual programming, daily aquatics training and activity operations represent most of the schedule throughout the year. As with similar facilities nationally, aquatics participants who will train, compete, and learn at SwimHershey during normal operations are a focused, hard working group offering little footprint on local traffic.

The planned SwimHershey facility not only brings 50 Meter (Long Course) training water back to the Derry Township area, and will help to close the critical gap for competitive swimming, artistic swimming, diving, and water polo where little to no access to water exists.

This 50 Meter facility will include deeper, colder development and competition water which will primarily support older age-group youth and adults with developmental swim programs, water safety activities and numerous aquatic sports. As with similar successful models nationally, it is designed to complement and support local existing community water by allowing athletes to evolve to the next level in their sport.

Our two-bulkhead design allows for simultaneous sports programming, and the increase in water opens the door for Paralympics and Special Olympics training and events not possible in current facilities.

The SwimHershey facility will be deep, running a minimum of 8’2” ft, and is chilly, at between ~74-78 degrees. This will primarily support older age-group youth and adults in aquatic sports including competitive swimming, diving, water polo, artistic swimming, and masters swimming (some of which have no local training water).

No. SwimHershey is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation focused on providing greater aquatics access and opportunity to Derry Township and the surrounding community. In addition to training, development, and competition, SwimHershey will be leveraging its many aquatics industry and corporate partnerships to create new, and enhance existing, community-based impact programs for the entire community—including those less fortunate among us where we work and live.

Further, drowning is still the #1 cause of death for kids under 5, the second cause of death for kids under 14 and more adults drown than kids each year. Research has shown that water safety is directly tied with a community’s ability to provide greater access and opportunity to water, and SwimHershey will play a key role here. Aquatics is also widely known to foster the highest academic achievements among all sports. In short, more development water like SwimHershey means a healthier, safer community and brighter future for all ages. SwimHershey will allow hundreds of local residents to continue their journey in aquatics, and will open the door for our youth to train locally for hard fought scholarships amongst their national peers.

While a considerable amount of SwimHershey business will be done through fee arrangements with aquatics clubs and governing entities, SwimHershey lane and event space will also be open to the public for a reasonable cost. Including much anticipated 50 Meter Long-Course format training and competition time.

SwimHershey is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation with a mission to provide greater aquatics education, access and opportunity to youth and adults across multiple aquatics sports like diving, water polo, artistic swimming, and masters swimming in addition to competitive swimming.

While all members of the SwimHershey organization have a passion and close-tie to swimming in the area, our focus and passion is aquatics growth for the region and there is no formal tie to any sport-specific organization in the region.

SwimHershey’s mission is about providing greater development and competition water to all such sports and organizations in the area. All are welcome!