YMCA of Southwestern Indiana receives AOAP Life Jackets
We were thrilled to receive the lifejacket grant this year from AOAP! Our lifejackets were getting a little ragged and we didn’t have enough to do whole group safety days. As soon as we received the nice, bright orange jackets, we started planning for lifejacket day at lessons!
We decided that May, Water Safety Month, was the perfect time to get ALL of our swim lesson participants into a life jacket and try it out. Some of the kiddos were hesitant, they didn’t trust the lifejacket to do its job. However, once they realized they could “bob” all the way to the deep end safely, they relaxed and really started to enjoy what they could do! Some who refused to jump in finally got brave enough to give it a go…and were so excited when they popped back up to the top of the water!
In conjunction with the jackets, we also gave all of the adults present “Water Watcher” tags on lanyards to take to all of their pool parties. We actually had parents ask if they were free and could they take extra for friends. Our answer was “Absolutely!”
We have found that MANY families are looking for swim lessons this year post-COVID. So many family pools were installed during quarantine, and it makes us happy to know that they are looking to teach their kids to be safe around water by bringing them to us for lessons. Being able to demonstrate the proper use of lifejackets now along with the rest of our curriculum is a great bonus!
Thank you again for the lifejackets! They will be put to great use!
Heather Polley
Aquatics Director YMCA of Southwestern IN
Evansville, IN
