ACAI hosting silent auction & trivia night

ANDREW COUNTY, Mo. (KQTV) -- The script has flipped from around a year ago; however, with a hopeful opening day on Memorial Day weekend, there is still much fundraising to do for reopening the Savannah Aquatic Center.

According to the fundraising group, the Andrew County Aquatics Initiative (ACAI), which originally sought out a new pool facility for Savannah, has found that the current pool is salvageable for the foreseeable future.

ACAI stated that $704,860 has been raised from the community to help rehab the current pool. The group also shared that they still need about $150,000 more in the next week to finish renovations for opening day.

One of the ways they hope to do so is through their current silent auction, which features many products and services from around the area. This auction is set to conclude during the evening of March 21, which is also the date of their upcoming event, a Trivia Night hosted at Timber Ridge Event Center in Amazonia, Missouri.

Along with those two events, the ACAI is also offering raffle tickets with the chance to win a freezer filled with beef from Leeson Ag Company.

This project wouldn't have happened without the tremendous community support the ACAI has seen since embarking on this journey last May.

"I don't think I've ever seen a community, or our community, come together in such a huge way. I think there's always that underlying spirit about Savannah, but to actually be in the middle of such a grand display of that community spirit has just been overwhelming," said ACAI's Diane Esely Gould. "I don't think we've heard a negative comment like that the entire time about what we're doing, and why would there be? Because it's all in the right spirit."

For the latest on ACAI's efforts and to learn how to help them achieve their goal, visit the group's Facebook Page.