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Valley Shore YMCA receives $2,500 grant to fund Youth Aquatic Safety Programs

The Valley Shore YMCA in Westbrook, CT is proud to receive a grant from the Community Foundation of Middlesex County in the amount of $2,500 to help support two of its Youth Aquatic Safety programs in 2020. The Fit Kids Program, in partnership with Daisy Ingraham Elementary School, commits to teach every schoolchild in Westbrook how to swim and stay safe around water by offering 7 weeks of swimming lessons for all first graders during their Physical Education period. The YMCA’s annual SPLASH! Safety Around Water program offers 200 free swimming and water safety lessons every December to area families free of charge. This grant was made possible by the generosity of the Coles Family Fund, Preston Family Fund, Whelen Family Fund, and the Nancy Fischbach and Martin Wolman Fund.

The Community Foundation of Middlesex County is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for the people of the County, now and in the future, by developing endowments, making grants that have impact and assisting donors in meeting their philanthropic objectives. Since its founding in 1997, the Community Foundation has awarded 2,068 grants totaling more than $6 million for the arts, cultural and heritage programs, educational activities, environmental improvements, animal welfare, and for health and human services.

States Chris Pallatto, the Executive Director of the Valley Shore YMCA, “Partnering with Daisy Ingraham Elementary School, the Fit Kids Learn to Swim is such an exciting and successful program here at the Valley Shore Y, and ensuring that every first grader in Westbrook can participate in swim and aquatic safety lessons is a great illustration of our mission to teach all children in our community how to enjoy and be safe around the water. In addition, our Annual SPLASH! Program has helped hundreds of additional children in our community to learn swimming and water safety, regardless of their ability to pay. We feel grateful that the Community Foundation of Middlesex County chose our YMCA to receive this grant, and are proud to foster water safety and healthy living in the children of our community.”

For more information about Youth Aquatics Programs, please contact the Valley Shore YMCA at (860) 399-9622.