Five hundred Talbot County non-swimming children are learning to swim this summer as part of the Miles River Yacht Club Foundation’s “SOS: Sink or Swim” program. They join 275 youngsters who graduated last summer from the program at the Bay Hundred Community Pool in St. Michaels. The program has been expanded this year to the Moton Pool in Easton, as well continuing at the St. Michaels pool.
Partnering with the St. Michaels Community Center and the Critchlow Adkins Children’s Centers, the SOS: Sink or Swim program addresses a growing MRYC Foundation concern that many children and adults on the Eastern Shore do not know how to swim, resulting in numerous drownings every year. The MRYC Foundation believes that swimming is a basic life skill when you live near the water, as well as being an athletic accomplishment that enriches every child’s life and builds their self-confidence.
The Foundation is investing nearly $23,000 in the SOS: Sink or Swim program this year, helped by hundreds of individual funders, as well as the Mid-Shore Community Foundation and Kelly Distributors. Each participating child takes part in two weeks of daily swimming lessons between June 29 and August 14, earns a certificate of accomplishment, and receives a free SOS tee shirt to announce his/her accomplishment. The St. Michaels Community Center sponsors a gala graduation party on Friday, August 14, with music, food and swimming.
The SOS: Sink or Swim program is the signature initiative in the MRYC Foundation’s effort to support organizations that offer youth sailing, swimming, kayaking, canoeing, rowing and other maritime-oriented educational programs. In its first four years of grant-making, the Foundation has provided $200,949 in grants to 23 non-profit organizations in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
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