Stew Leonard family, Olympian team up to provide free swim lessons
This summer, the Leonards, along with Olympic gold medalist swimmer Rowdy Gaines’ organization Step Into Swim, are providing $400,000 worth of grants to local organizations to provide 40,000 free swim lessons.
NORWALK — As the weather warms and pools begin opening this summer season, the threat of children drowning once again is top of mind for families like the Leonards.
Last year, Stew and Kim Leonard opened Stewie the Duck Swim School in honor of their son, who died by drowning at 21 months, in the hopes of preventing another parent from having to experience the loss they’ve endured.
“Our family, we lost a child, which they say is the worst thing that could happen in your life,” said Stew Leonard, during a press conference Monday morning. “He drowned. It wasn’t because of a lack of supervision because there were like a dozen adults around; it was a lapse of supervision.”
This summer, the Leonards, along with Olympic gold medalist swimmer Rowdy Gaines’ organization Step Into Swim, are providing $400,000 worth of grants to local organizations to provide 40,000 free swim lessons across Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.
“Drowning is an epidemic in our country,” Gaines said. “It’s the number one reason for unintentional death in children ages 1 to 4. Number one in the country.”
Among the recipients of the grants is Swim Angelfish, an organization that teaches children with autism the vital skill of swimming. The organization is receiving $10,000 to provide 13 children with autism weekly lessons for 13 weeks.
“The expenses of raising a child with special needs are enormous and to be able to take one worry off of their shoulders and to say ‘we’ve got you, don’t worry about the cost and we’ll get your child safer’ is such a gift,” said Ailene Tisser, co-founder of Swim Angelfish.
Norwalk Recreation and Parks is also receiving $10,000 to provide 250 children eight swim lessons at Calf Pasture Beach and Norwalk High School. Several regional YMCA chapters are also receiving funding for free lessons.
“It is important for children of all ages to know how to save themselves and understand the importance of water safety,” said Brenda Penn Williams, president of Norwalk’s NAACP. “The research showed that more than 64 percent of Black children cannot swim and are at risk of drowning.”
In Connecticut, 1,521 children will receive lessons, totaling 13,035 lessons.
“Only about 10 percent of low-income kids know how to swim,” said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who joined the Leonards in celebrating the grants. “This issue is a major challenge for our nation.” The Leonard’s grandson, Barrow, has recently begun taking swim lessons at the Stewie the Duck Swim School.
“If you haven’t had the opportunity to get your child swim lessons, talk to them about the importance of not getting in the water without asking permission,” said Kim Leonard.
To highlight the importance of swimming, Yale swimming champion Ali Truwit shared the story of how knowing how to swim saved her life when a shark bit off her foot.
“I always loved the water, but we’re discussing here today how swimming saves lives, and it certainly saved mine 11 months ago when I was attacked by a shark while snorkeling with a former college teammate,” Truwit said.
“We quickly found ourselves in the position of needing to swim roughly 75 yards in the open ocean back to the boat to save ourselves and we did,” Truwit recalled. “Swimming and knowing how to swim was what saved us, and so I stand here today with just the utmost gratitude for my swim teachers and my swim coaches and my teammates and the sport itself for helping me survive a life or death situation.
Less than a year after surviving a shark attack, Truwit is training to try out for the U.S. Paralympic swimming team and hopes to compete in Paris this summer.
Truwit, Gaines, Stew Leonard, and Stewie the Duck Director Laurie Houseknecht raced in the training pool with Blumenthal timing them. Truwit won, with Gaines coming in second, Houseknecht in third, and Leonard in fourth.