PARC Wins Grant To Restore Pool

PLYMOUTH, MI —Plymouth Arts & Recreation Complex has received a grant of $125,000 from the Margaret Dunning Foundation for renovation and modernization of the original pool built in 1952 located within its one hundred year old historic building. PARC is headquartered at old Plymouth High School/Central Middle School on Main Street.

“After 65 years of continuous use, the mechanicals need to be replaced with more reliable state-of-the-art equipment,” PARC President Don Soenen said in a statement. “The Margaret Dunning Foundation grant will allow PARC to provide safe and reliable aquatics programs for the Greater Plymouth Community for decades.”

PARC is a public charity, leading the effort to convert the historic Plymouth High/Central Middle School and the 16.6 acres on which it sits into an arts, education and recreation complex serving the Greater Plymouth Community.

The Margaret Dunning Foundation was founded in 1997. Margaret Dunning was born in 1910 in Redford Township, Mich. and moved with her mother to Plymouth in the 1920’s.

During her lifetime, Dunning was a successful business woman, philanthropist and civic booster. She was a major supporter of many Plymouth nonprofits, including the Plymouth District Library and the Plymouth Historical Society.

In addition to her personal philanthropy, Dunning was a classic car enthusiast and was a regular participant in the Woodward Dream Cruise with her 1930 Packard 740 Roadster. She died in 2013 at the age of 104.

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