Fowler to host 6th ‘Swim for Life’ event
DOCO Coroner saving lives...
ALBANY, Ga. – According to the Children Safety Network, drowning claims the lives of almost 4 thousand adolescents ages 5 to 19 each year…
Dougherty County Coroner, Michael Fowler, is more committed to saving lives than responding to drowning deaths through his swim for life campaign.
“We wanted to prevent drowning. We didn’t want a child to die prematurely without knowing how to swim, that’s something that could be prevented. So, we thought of an idea to teach kids to learn to swim,” said Michael Fowler, DOCO Coroner, ‘Swim for Life’ director.
Fowler says parents need to understand that receiving or not receiving swim lessons will affect their child for the rest of their life…
“We want a child to learn to swim while their young, a lot of the time they have less fear. They older you get, they more fear you have. Sooner or later, they’re going to go to the beach, a swimming pool, a party something of that nature, so we want them to know how to swim,” said Fowler.
Swim for life provides more than life-saving swim lessons…
“Many kids did not have proper attire to get in the pool. Without the proper attire, you can’t get in the pool. You can’t get in with jeans and certain things on. So, many kids didn’t have the money to get swim wear. We partnered with Walmart last year, they got flip flops and we got swimsuits, goggles whatever they may need to be comfortable in the water,” said Fowler.
Fowler says the number of lives saved depends on the number of sponsors received, although many have supported, he is still in need of more.
“It’s a lot of running around trying to get sponsors to do it. This year we have a q code that they can go into the app and support the kids.. If they want to sponsor one child or 10 children, we encourage them to support. An average of 300 kids normally sign up, this year we’ll push it to 500, I want as many kids as possible to sign up and learn how to swim,” said Fowler.
The ‘Swim for Life’ registration event will be on June 3rd… food, beverages, a DJ, water slides, face painting and more will be available to all who attend. For questions or concerns you can call: (229) 347-1157.
Mary Alex Anders reporting.
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