Global Generosity With Goggles for Guppies
Courtesy of Goggles for Guppies, Laguna Hills, California.
Goggles for Guppies continues to provide free swimsuits, swim caps and goggles to enable at-risk children to learn to swim.
In 2011, Goggles for Guppies was co-founded by Chris Hales and Matt Hales, twin 12-year-old brothers – and is still going very strong.
Over the last 8 years, Goggles for Guppies have distributed over $1.25 million worth of free swim suits, swim caps and goggles to encourage underprivileged, at-risk children to learn to swim. They solicit and accept donations of unsold inventory from sporting goods manufacturers, distributors and retailers for distribution to learn-to-swim programs internationally and throughout the United States that provide basic swimming skills to disadvantaged kids.
The young aquapreneurs explain their objective, “More than 300,000 people drown each year. That’s more than 800 per day. Drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death of children age 1 to 14 worldwide. 2 children under age 14 drown somewhere in America every day.
The overwhelming majority of drowning and near-drowning victims do not know how to swim. Participation in formal swimming lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by 88%.
Children of financially challenged families are at the highest risk of drowning. There are many low and no-cost learn-to-swim programs for financially challenged children in every major metropolitan area. However, proper swim attire is always required to enter the pool. Each year thousands of kids are turned away from free swim lessons simply because they can’t afford a proper swimsuit.
Over 50 million American families earn less than US$50,000 per year. According to USA Swimming, 79% of children from families earning less than US$50,000 per year tend to have low or no swimming ability and cannot afford the expense of basic swim equipment such as a proper swimsuit and a pair of goggles. They can’t swim and they can’t afford to learn how. These children are at an extreme risk of drowning in our oceans, community and backyard swimming pools, hot tubs, lakes, rivers, streams and creeks.”
Their mission is to provides free swim equipment to domestic and international no-cost water safety programs for financially challenged at-risk and special needs children in an effort to remove all financial barriers and enable at-risk children everywhere to learn to swim.
Goggles for Guppies is an all-volunteer charitable organization that relies on donations to cover equipment acquisition, storage, repackaging, shipping, outreach and business operating expenses of its free swim equipment program to provide free swim equipment to Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs, inner-city park and recreation departments, school districts, community pools, private swim clubs and international humanitarian efforts.
Goggles for Guppies will participate in #GivingTuesday, a global generosity movement on December 3rd.
For more information, email info@gogglesforguppies.org or visit www.gogglesforguppies.org.
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