This summer, nearly 4,000 children in the region have the knowledge and ability to remain safe around water thanks to swimming lessons funded through philanthropy. The Monda Kids SWIM (Safe Water Instruction Matters) initiative offered every second-grade student in Sarasota County Schools a week’s worth of free swimming lessons during school hours last spring, and nearly 2,800 students at 24 participating schools were transported to one of five area YMCA branches or Girls Inc. for an hour of daily group swimming lessons with certified aquatics instructors over the course of a school-week. Monda Kids SWIM was created by philanthropists Keith and Linda Monda and Gulf Coast Community Foundation in 2013, and several more donors have since contributed funding to the initiative. Support from the Gould Family Foundation helped Gulf Coast expand Kids SWIM to Charlotte County a few years ago, and this spring nearly 1,000 Charlotte County Public Schools second-graders participated.

Gulf Coast Community Foundation