This past month has been SO exciting hearing conversations about the Swim Safe Gig Harbor campaign rippling through town! Our group has definitely made a "splash" (pun intended), and it has been incredibly encouraging seeing our community's reaction to our campaign. A resounding "yes!!!!" keeps being repeated as we speak about the need for more places where our children can learn how to swim.
Sarah and I have been busy reaching out to pretty much everyone we possibly can about next steps with this campaign. So far, we have spoken with the Gig Harbor Kiwanis Club, and are scheduled to speak on September 10th to the Gig Harbor morning Rotary club. We've had coffee with Robin Callahan, Vice President of Philanthropic Services with the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, and are excited to meet this week with Tracie Markley, who is currently running for mayor of Gig Harbor. We've also met with a member from Gig Harbor's Chamber of Commerce, and Diana Litsch and Mike Kelly from the Narrows Aquatic Association.
We've also been sending emails to many businesses and organizations around town, asking for letters of verbal support for Swim Safe Gig Harbor. Pediatrics NW and Harbor Pediatrics responded immediately, saying YES, they support the AAP's recommendation to partner with drowning prevention programs such as Swim Safe Gig Harbor.
It's been so incredible watching all of these doors being opened to us to talking about this need around town. So far, the conversation usually consists of, "Yes!! We absolutely need this!!" Followed by, "Now let's figure out how to do it."
The next thing we have our eyes on is the PenMet Parks Board meeting on September 7th. We plan on presenting our petition that night to the board (we are SO CLOSE to our 1,000 signature goal!! Here is the petition link: tinyurl.com/swimsafegigharborpetition) as well as the verbal support letters from local businesses, in hopes of showing community support for our campaign for this great need in our town. The PenMet Board has been very welcoming to our conversation with them. Personally, I have been very impressed by their leadership and openness to having a conversation about this need in our community. The board members we have spoken with obviously love our town, parks, and people. I feel encouraged that our voices are being heard with our campaign!!
Lastly, I'll end with a personal story. A couple weeks ago, my family and I drove out to Lake Chelan to spend a few days together with family (we luckily had a few days there before the smoke came from all the fires). There was an indoor pool there, so of course my children wanted to go swimming. My daughter, who is almost 5, wanted to put on her puddle jumper to swim. But... if she's going to learn how to swim... she has to take off her puddle jumper... right? That was a nervous moment for me. I went in with her, and encouraged her that I would be right there with her. She was nervous, but after a few minutes she got a bit of confidence and came in. We stayed by the steps, but it felt so good to see her kicking, practicing rolling over to float, getting her arms out to do "crawl stroke"/freestyle, and really getting the hang of beginning swimming techniques.
I watched a video recently where someone described learning how to swim as essential as car-seat safety. As new parents, we are HOUNDED with all the statistics about car seats, proper belt-height/weight for kids, etc. But.... what about swim safety? Drowning is a leading cause of death in children.
"In the United States:
More children ages 1–4 die from drowning than any other cause of death except birth defects.
For children ages 1–14, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death after motor vehicle crashes." (https://www.cdc.gov/drowning/facts/index.html)
Watching my daughter practicing swimming, reflecting on this crazy, EXCITING summer with kicking off Swim Safe Gig Harbor - it just reminded me of why we are doing this. It is NOT ok that Gig Harbor families are so desperate to find places where their children can learn how to swim. Swim Safe Gig Harbor is advocating to resolve that need!!
