By Joe Veyera
Between 2008 and 2012, 122 drowning deaths were reported in King County, with nine of these deaths of children 17 years of age or younger.
Seattle Parks & Recreation is currently accepting monetary donations of any size for its Learn to Swim Scholarship Fund, which makes swimming lessons affordable to all families, as they try to reduce that figure to zero.
The City of Seattle offers half-price swimming lessons to low-income families, but for some this is still not enough. The fund helps reduce the cost of lessons to the same level offered for other programs such as child care scholarships. Every family does still pays a portion of the fee.
People can make a 100 percent tax-deductible donation to the fund by visiting a local pool (the closest option for Ballard residents being the Ballard Pool 1471 NW 67th St) to use cash, check, or VISA/MasterCard/American Express, or by donating online at the Associated Recreation Council’s website by selecting “donate now” and then “Learn to Swim” from the drop-down menu.
Donors can set up recurring donations online, and can also designate donations on behalf of or in honor of someone.
For more information on the fund, and how to make a donation, click here.
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I strongly urge people to donate to this worthy cause. There is nothing more tragic than the loss of someone’s life simply because they fell into water over their head and are unable to swim enough to save their own life.
When my daughter took swimming lessons I also paid for a friend of hers whose family could not afford it. I will never worry that this cute kid will ever drown because she cannot swim, even for the rest of her life. It is a great feeling.