So much to share

Oct 10

Dear WaterStrong Friends

Welcome to autumn, to election season, to the beginning of cold water swimming & apple pie, and to the rain & cozy blankets.

I have so much to share with you and I’ll preface it with a promise to keep it brief with pictures. Here are the main highlights.

September 21: EcoSwim with Pacific Refugee Support Group at Northeast Community Center. Something happens when you hold hands in the water in a circle. We felt connected, supported, braver, and lighter.

September 22: EcoSwim with Bienestar at Forest Grove Aquatic Center. Sometimes, just floating on your back or touching the deep end is enough to build one day’s worth of confidence.

September 28: The 3rd Annual Dawn-to-Dusk Swim Relay at Broughton Beach, hosted by the lovely Ballenas and graced by Leo's handmade Sauna on Wheels, attended by over 50 swimmers, was a splashing success. Together you raised more than $2,000 for WaterStrong, which will be triple matched for a total $8,000 gift. THANK YOU wonderful community for your support. Your gifts lay the foundation for another round of life-saving, earth-healing, barrier-destroying programs. Thank you!

October 2: North Portland Aquatic Center design team meeting with WaterStrong and Black Swimming Initiative at Portland Parks & Recreation. Folks, our work is on the radar in this town and I am deeply grateful to our excellent partners for bringing us into the conversation. In the coming years, Portland will welcome a new and much needed aquatic center in North Portland. Let’s add to the community-building opportunities.

October 6: I took my own advice and support-paddled for friends swimming a long stretch of Willamette River from Daimler to Cathedral Park, over breaching salmon - or were they sturgeon?, under eagles and osprey, past the SS Vigorous and through the Portland Harbor Superfund Site. I felt honored to be there for my friends knowing they could count on me, and I look forward to more opportunities

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED October 20, 3-6p at FGAC: EcoSwim with Bienestar at Forest Grove Aquatic Center, 3-6p. We need 6 more volunteers for a high-touch, super fun water safety / swimming program. Volunteers receive a WaterStrong t-shirt, swim cap, stickers, gift card of appreciation, and a meal. Please ping me if you can make it: dena@waterstrong.org

October 26, 11:30a-1:30p and 2p-8p at NECC: EcoSwim with Pacific Refugee Support Group (our last of the series) followed by Red Cross Instructor Certification training. Northeast Community Center. (Fully subscribed, no need for more volunteers! If you have signed up already, I’ll be in touch shortly)

November 8, 2-6p at YOUTH Pdx, 16126 SE Stark St. Portland. I am thrilled to announce the WaterStrong CPR Instructor Cohort! This will be the official launch of the new CPR Instructor cohort. Beginning December / January, a team of WaterStrong volunteers, now certified Red Cross CPR Instructors, will deliver a series of in-person Red Cross Adult & Pediatric Basic First Aid - CPR certification classes in the Portland metro region. Our training coordinators for this initiative are Nana Hoerth (YETI Foundation founder, WaterStrong board member) and Shelby Sugierski (swim instructor extraordinaire, labor organizer). Stay tuned for more on this station.

For your reading pleasure, please have a look at this excellent 2017 research paper on water competence and drowning prevention attached here, "From Swimming Skill to Water Competence: Towards a More Inclusive Drowning Prevention Future”

October in review