In its first SOS initiative, the Foundation is partnering with the St. Michaels Community Center to offer free swimming lessons to non-swimmers at the Bay Hundred Community Pool. 165 youngsters from the Bay Hundred region are participating in the program between June and August, all of whom will know how to swim by summer’s end. The program supports swimming instructors, provides scholarships to the children, free admission to the Community Pool for the summer to reinforce their new swimming capability, and SOS tee shirts to every SOS graduate. All of the new swimmers and their parents will be congratulated at a SOS: Sink or Swim Pool “Graduation” Party on August 22.
Dr. Sherry Manning, Chairman of the Foundation said “the Foundation is concerned that each year a number of children and adults drown in the Chesapeake Bay watershed because they cannot swim. Swimming is not only recreation, but a life skill, and an essential element to safety on the Eastern Shore”. In 2010, there were 6,542 children living in Talbot County, with 419 children living below the poverty level. With additional support, the MRYC Foundation hopes to expand the program in Summer 2015 to more areas of Talbot County.
The Foundation receives support from several hundred individuals, businesses, companies and foundations, and from its Spring and Fall annual fundraising events, and has made $134,292 in grants to 21 Chesapeake Bay area non-profit organizations in its first three year of grant-making.
