LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. — Waterscapes Pools & Spas (WaterScapesPools.com), one of the largest residential and commercial pool builders in southwest Florida and a sister company of Neal Communities, recently donated $1,000 to Water Smart Tots, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating pediatric drowning in Hillsborough County.
This is the third consecutive year that Waterscapes Pools & Spas has supported Water Smart Tots as a gold-level sponsor.
“It shows that Waterscapes Pools & Spas believes they are a part of the solution to the pediatric drowning epidemic,” said Cammie Yick, community outreach coordinator for Water Smart Tots, who also had Waterscapes Pools & Spa build her pool. “Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1 – 4 in Florida.”
Founded by Kari Bahour in September 2014, Water Smart Tots promotes awareness through water safety education and by providing access to survival swimming skills to infants and young children, ages 12 months to 6 years, who are financially disadvantaged or who have special needs.
“We are pleased to help support this very worthy organization again this year,” said John Collier, vice president of Waterscapes Pools & Spas. “Water Smart Tots’ important work promotes children’s water safety, and the nonprofit’s important work is saving lives in southwest Florida through its prevention and educational programs.”
Children who meet the criteria can apply for scholarships to help cover the cost of the six-week program for new swimmers or a three-week refresher course for Water Smart Tots graduates. Survival skills lessons are held four days a week for 10 minutes each day.
During each lesson, children are taught survival swimming skills in the event of an accidental fall into the pool, such as being able to roll on their backs and float until help arrives or swimming, rolling back to float and then resuming swimming to the edge of the pool for safety.
“I think it’s important to know that these are not just your typical traditional swim lessons,” says Yick. “We’re not focused on strokes but survival skills. We offer one-on-one instruction designed to meet the needs of each individual child. It’s a rewarding experience to see children and families who were worried about water safety learn survival skills so they know they are safe.”
In its first year, 30 children graduated from the Water Smarts Tots program. This year, 72 children were awarded more than $21,000 in scholarships for survival swim lessons.
About Waterscapes Pools & Spas
Waterscapes Pools & Spas is one of southwest Florida’s largest residential and commercial pool builder and a sister company of Neal Communities. With over 40 years of experience, the company builds award-winning pools. Recent accolades include the Overall Winner award by the Parade of Homes and Sarasota Herald-Tribune Reader’s Choice award. Waterscapes Pools & Spas is a family-owned company with a 98 percent satisfaction rate. For more information, visit WaterScapesPools.com or call 941-479-6076.