Our coolers are so popular, we ran out (briefly)

For years, Louisville Water has loaned coolers and given away cups for community events through our Pure Tap On the Go program – so why weren’t any coolers available for some customers near the end of May?

Because they were all being used at schools for field days.

“A combined total of 66 coolers were provided to 12 schools for field day events serving approximately 6,440 students,” said Public Relations Specialist Kayla Hanak. “All our available coolers were rented out for May 25 and May 26, and we even loaned out Pure Tap equipment not typically available for public use to help serve as many kids as possible. We did have to turn down several school requests just because we did not have any units available.”

“We did a lot of cleaning and disinfecting to turn the cooler units around,” she added. “I was able to get creative and work with some of the schools to set specific drop-off and pick-up times, so that we could flip returned rentals to the next user on the same day. It was lovely how accommodating a lot of the schools were. Some would appeal to colleagues or have their spouses do the drop-off if their schedule didn’t allow – just so we could get the units out to another school. It’s nice when people are gracious and helpful.  A lot of them really appreciate this service.”

An example of an appreciative school representative is Kevin Knochenmus, Field Elementary Family Resource Center Coordinator, who said “Field day is the last big hurrah of the school year, and we had hundreds of kids running around in the heat all day having a blast, but Pure Tap was there when they needed a break.”

Hanak pointed out that “this is the second year in a row that we’ve been fully booked for field day and had to turn down requests. I think it speaks pretty highly of all the outreach we do in the school system that people even know about our program.”

Typically, there are also a few weekends during the summer that all our coolers are loaned out for community events, and Hanak noted that “the program has just gotten that popular – it literally keeps us moving all summer long.”

She said the primary goal is to provide customers with all the equipment they need to easily and sustainably serve Pure Tap at their events – at no cost. But please note that “all rental requests are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis, so folks should take a lesson from field day and get their requests in early.”