YWCA’s Flying Fish Aquatics program receives grant from USA Swimming Foundation

The YWCA Evanston/North Shore has received a 2013 Make a Splash grant for $4,000 from the USA Swimming Foundation, one of just 40 swim programs in the country to receive such a grant.

“We are gratified to be recognized in this way,” said Karen Singer, President and CEO of the YWCA Evanston/North Shore. “We strongly believe every child should learn to swim, and it has always been our commitment to provide swim instruction for every child in our lakefront
community.”

“This grant helps offset some of the costs of providing space and professional instruction to the many children whose families cannot afford the cost of lessons,” added Pete Caragher, Director of Flying Fish Aquatics. “The needs of our community are great and we are far from meeting them, but the grant is intended to provide seed funds for programs like ours to become self-sustaining.”

As Harriett Navarre, Make A Splash Program Coordinator, noted, “we believe that the program you have built is, or has the potential to be, strong enough to be successful
in soliciting funds and sponsorships from local organizations that are committed to having your program live on in their community.”

Make A Splash is the national child-focused water safety initiative of the USA Swimming Foundation which aligns the nation’s top learn-to-swim resources in an effort to raise awareness of water safety and provide opportunities for all children to learn to swim.  The YWCA was named a local partner in 2009 for their efforts to reach out to local community groups and schools to ensure that
all children have access to swimming lessons.

“We appreciate all that (the YWCA) is doing in their community to promote water safety and the importance of learning to swim,” continued Navarre, “and we believe that (your) program will make an impact in your community and will save lives.”