Make A Splash swimming program borne of tragedies and statistics

Corporate giving story for The Commercial Appeal

August 7, 2009

In the summer of 2007, two teens drowned while swimming in public pools in Memphis. From the tragedy sprang the Make A Splash Mid-South program through Safe Kids Mid-South at Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center.

The goals of the program, according to Susan Helms, Le Bonheur’s director of injury prevention, are to offer swimming lessons to those who otherwise couldn’t afford it, enhance lifeguard training and inject diversity into swim meets.

“The community was outraged by the drownings, and it was the perfect time for the two, Safe Kids and Le Bonheur, to work together,” Helms said … (read more)