Today we’d like to introduce you to Buc Buchanan.
Buc, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Since 2009, our purpose has been simple. We do everything we can to prevent drowning and save lives of children by targeting under-served communities that need swim lessons and aquatic water and ocean safety education. Drowning is a quick and silent killer. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) statistics show that drowning is the leading cause of accidental fatalities for children under the age of 14. Amazingly, a child can drown in less than one minute in as little as one inch of water with no warning, no screaming, and no splashing.
Here in San Diego, water is an an integral part of our lifestyle, social gatherings, exercise, sports, residential pools, transportation, and routine summer fun for our children. Still, wherever there is water, there is the threat of drowning. PDFSD has a two-fold goal to train up a swim-competent youth population and make water-safety and swim instruction a normalized health habit/public policy for the good of our overall community. As such, we help save children’s lives through a community-based program called “Waterproofing San Diego” that provides education in water safety and free swimming lessons in under-served communities. Over the last decade, more than 80,000 young people in San Diego County have participated in and benefited from our program.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As the only non-profit community advocate and funder of underserved youth swim lessons in the high water -activity of San Diego County, we remain challenged to (1) develop funding sources that sustain our mission and (2) recruit volunteer/part-time operational staff. Now, in this time of COVID-19, we are also challenged to (3) provide chlorinated pool swim lessons and bay/ocean water safety instructions (the most precarious of all water environments) for the safety of youths in the summer of 2020.
Please tell us about Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego.
Our approach is unique in that we maintain relationships from all sectors that connect us with school personnel and non-swimming youths in underserved communities (even in this time of shelter-in-place and social distancing mandates). We are able to facilitate their direct access to local pools (usually in walking or short-driving distance to their homes) for swim lessons and water-safety instruction. Also, we initiate this 4-week engagement with digital instruction in preparation for in-person water activities and end it with weekly pool assessments as well as a day at the beach ocean/bay swim experience.
Additionally, graduates of the “Waterproofing San Diego.” programs routinely matriculate to our Junior Lifeguard program and provide water instruction and life-saving measures to the San Diego community-at-large in both pool and bay/ocean settings. In essence, by providing free water-safety and swim training for youths, who might otherwise spend their lives as non-swimmers. We save lives and foster “lifesavers” who benefit the entire water community and encourage continued outdoor water activity for future generations.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Our most important qualities are two-fold in that we aim to (1) train up a swim-competent youth population and (2) make water-safety and swim instruction a normalized health habit/public policy for the good of our overall community.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://preventdrowningfoundation.org
- Phone: 619-415-0039
- Email: info@preventdrowningfoundation.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pdfsandiego/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PDFSanDiego/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/PDFSanDiego
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/prevent-drowning-foundation-of-san-diego/
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