The Swim Strong Foundation became a GLSA Member
USA 04.08.2022. The Swim Strong
Foundation was granted a Club Member status by the Greek Lifesaving Sports
Association.
Swim Strong Foundation was founded 15 years ago with one mission to reduce unintended
death due to drowning and water-based accidents by providing life-saving
swimming and water-safety skills to all children and families regardless of
their ability to pay.
To date the SSF has taught more than 10,000 people how to swim; provided more
than $1 million in free swim lessons to families in need; taught more than
10,000 people life-saving, award-winning, environmentally focused water safety
education and has initiated legislation to mandate the training of water safety
in NY State schools grades K-12.
As a result of its effort, 238 school children joined competitive swim
teams, 96 became junior instructors, 113 joined H.S. and college teams, and 212
became certified lifeguards. The SSF is a conduit for first responder careers
with 23 joining Fire, police, and EMT services and 41 joining the military.
In 2018, it also began teaching a dry-side curriculum on water
safety, “Know Before You Go™” which provides water safety
education series that can be delivered to a variety of age groups. Through
this program, the SSF has provided educational programming to 10,875 students
across the New York area. When the pandemic hit, it mobilized its resources to
shift “Know Before You Go™” to a virtual setting so it could
continue to reach children with this life-saving curriculum (more).
The Greek Lifesaving Sports Association, was founded in loving memory of 3 relatives that lost their lives at sea with the vision to bridge public health with sports to enhance aquatic injury prevention. It has members in 31 countries (more). The GLSA President, Dr. Stathis Avramidis, said: “My recent communication with the President Shawn Slevin, allowed me to see the wonderful work that is undertaken, the dreams and the dedication of a group of visionary people in the other side of the world. We are pleased to grant our membership status to such an elegant organization with similar aims and objectives.”
