Make a Splash with GiveBIG!
||| FROM CLAIRE ANDERSON for FRIENDS OF LOPEZ ISLAND POOL |||
If you’re committed to creating a safer, healthier, more connected San Juan County, please GiveBIG to build a nonprofit community Swim Center on Lopez, slated to begin construction this summer if funding goals are met.
Friends of Lopez Island Pool (FLIP) has raised $5.33 million to date! It is clear our local community wants this: 73% of private funding has come from local addresses. And our community needs this: only 8% of elementary-aged island kids could pass the American Red Cross’s basic swim test, leaving 92% at risk. We are surrounded by the rough, cold waters of the Salish Sea; it’s imperative that our youth grow up learning how to be safe in and near the water.
Eight other local organizations have partnered with FLIP to ensure community needs are met. The year-round, all-ages Swim Center will be financially and environmentally sustainable with solar collectors pre-heating two pools: one 75-foot, four-lane lap pool, and a 92°F large therapy pool for swimming lessons and aquatic physical therapy. A variety of classes, from paddleboard yoga to kayak instruction to water-rescue training, are planned once the pool is open.
We need a swim center to serve our people, young and old, fit and aging, resident and visitor, swimmer and non-swimmer. Your partnership is crucial to supporting efforts to build a community aquatic center that will serve the safety, fitness, health, and recreational needs of all islanders, and their families and friends.
May 4 and 5 officially mark GiveBIG, Washington state’s 48-hour online community giving event. But you don’t have to wait to give: Early giving has begun and will continue through May 5. Support the Swim Center at www.givebigwa.org/FLIP.
For more information about the Swim Center, visit www.lopezislandpool.org or email info@lopezislandpool.org.
