SUDBURY -- The Olympic size swimming pool at Laurentian University closed in the fall due to a lack of funds.

In spite of that news, former Laurentian Varsity Swimmers rallied together and fundraised $7,800 to donate to the school's swimming program.

Stacey Zembryzcki now has her PhD and teaches at Dawson College in Montreal.

She told CTV News the alumni wanted the money to be specifically designated for the swim program.

“I was worried that it would go in general athletics and possibly be dispersed between all the teams. So I worked with the person in the development office very closely,” Zembryzcki said.

“We tracked all the donations … We tracked it, and we got confirmation it arrived in the swimming bank account.”

Zembryzcki said she heard about the university’s insolvency just a few weeks after the donation was made.

Can't get an answer

She reached out to see where the donation had gone, but still hasn’t been able to get an answer.

“I reached out to the development office, they acknowledged our donations, they credited us for doing such a great job of raising the money,” Zembryzcki said.

“Then they directed me to the website that basically says the university is in the insolvency process but there were no concrete answers about where the money is. I also reached out to the head of athletics. He also said he acknowledges us as donors and he would try to track the money down.”

She said the last time she heard from Laurentian was Feb. 5.

Another former swimmer, Dave Clarke, said he hopes the money is found.

“We want the money to be found and to be spent on the purposes for which we raised it for,” said Clarke.

“We want the students, given the circumstances, to benefit from participating in a varsity sport as they pursue their higher education.”

The money wasn’t supposed to be accessed until fall 2021, but when the university announced it will no longer be paying for the swim team to practise at a city pool in Hanmer, the alumni wanted the team to have access to the funds immediately.

“We want athletes to remain in the pool until the end of the term and we certainly don’t want them to have to pay for that cost,” said Zembryzcki.

CTV News reached out to Laurentian for comment but no one was made available.