Thank you Women Business Owners of North Florida for your generous scholarship donation

Thank you to The Women’s Business Owners of North Florida!

Sometimes swimming lessons can seem like a luxury that some families cannot afford. Parents understand the need to teach their children to swim, but if they can’t afford to enroll their children, these children can be missing out on a vital life-saving skill. Parents might try their hardest to give their own lessons at the public pool, or find a cheaper alternative, but sometimes these can fall short compared to formal lessons with a certified school. Too many stories hit the news about children drowning and too many families are suffering at the loss of their children. But, recently, thanks to the Women’s Business Owners of North Florida www.wbonfl.org this story changed for ten families. The organization helped to raise $2000 which was donated to families that desperately needed it. Now these children and their families know the proper skills to have fun and be safe in the water.

At Swimming Safari, we understand how beneficial swim lessons can be for babies and children and believe that every child should have the right to enroll in swim lessons, but sadly sometimes families simply cannot afford them. We want every child to have the opportunity to learn to swim and possibly even save their lives and thanks to the WBO these families are now able to enroll in swim lessons through Swimming Safari. Donations were asked for during a retreat the WBO went on last fall. In return the donors usually won items like Jaguar tickets, bottles of wine, or other items. This year, instead, in their name, swim lessons were offered to underprivileged children. This was a big hit, and these donations raised $2000 helping ten families afford swim lessons for months! The owner of Swimming Safari Swim School, Joani Maskell, said, “once we identified the children and notified their parents of this opportunity for their kids, we actually had one mother cry! She was so happy to have this happen! I wish you could see the smiles that were brought to these children’s faces as well as their parents!”

While ten families, doesn’t seem like much, annually, there are over 3,500 deaths due to unintentional drowning

Drowning is the leading cause of injury death among children ages 1–4 in Florida. Florida’s drowning death rate among children ages 1–4 is the highest in the nation, according to the Department of Health

We are not doing enough to keep our children safe and many of these deaths can be avoided with the proper water safety skills and swim lessons. Thanks to the WBO, these ten families now understand proper water safety skills and their children are enrolled in swim lessons!

This is a truly heartwarming story about what happens when an organization, pools their resources together, to help children in need. These children are now able to have fun in the pool and be safe because of the Women’s Business Owners of North Florida. Swimming Safari wants to send a big thank you to the WBO for their donations. Every child should have the opportunity to learn to swim and because of these donations, ten families can now afford lessons!