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Make a Splash is a national water safety initiative created by the USA Swimming Foundation in an effort to provide access to swim lessons, at low to no cost, for children across the country. It is a proactive approach to teaching basic swimming and safety skills to our youth and is currently reaching over 2,000 third graders in the Treasure Valley. As Idaho has the second highest unintentional drowning rate in the nation, the Treasure Valley Family YMCA has made it one of our priorities to reverse this statistic.
The Treasure Valley Family YMCA is a 501 (c) 3 Nonprofit Organization.
Federal Tax ID number is 82-0200908
Whittier Elementary School is a Title One school with many underprivileged students. Boise SW Rotary Club has adopted the school for several projects. They are:
6th Grade - Graduation party at Wahoo.
5th Grade - Christmas lunch with our club at the Riverside, photos with Santa and small gifts.
4th Grade - We pay for bus transportation and arrange a tour of BSU to inspire students to think about attending College.
3rd Grade - Make a Splash, we sponsor the 3rd graders to learn to swim. This is our signature project and the biggest financial commitment of our club.
Rotarian Keith Masonheimer is our liaison to the school and makes all the arrangements.
Direct involvement by individual Rotarians is limited. We do not drive the buses, nor are we qualified to teach the swimming skills. None the less, Rotarians Lund and Masonheimer oversee the relations between the YMCA and the school.
To pay for all this, our club has a fundraiser; Rotary Luau, in which almost all of our club members participate by buying tickets, selling tickets, donating auction items, or bidding on auction items. Some of our fundraising committee members are Rotarians Nancy Miller, Mike Markley, Andrea Thornton, Marshall Baker and George Weissbeck. The principal of Whittier is our special guest at this event and speaks to the need and gratitude that the students have for our support.
The YMCA credits Rotary on their website as a sponsor of Make A Splash:
https://www.ymcatvidaho.org/about-us/make-a-splash/
Expenses incurred by YMCA are in two parts
1. Transportation to and from the school. This includes driver salary, fuel, vehicle depreciation, vehicle maintenance and insurance.
2. Staff salaries for the time spent teaching.
Because the Whittier 3rd Grader expenses are part of the Make a Splash program as a whole, covering 2000 Treasure Valley 3rd graders, and because the Make a Splash program is only one of many programs that utilize the staff and transportation resources, estimating the portion dedicated to our sponsored Whittier 3rd Graders is a best estimate. Receipts for expenses will therefore have to rely on the YMCA letter of receipt. The economy of scale undeniably keeps the cost per student low and therefore is a good value for its sponsors.
Total cost for Whittier 3rd graders is $6500 This is based upon an expected 3rd grade population of approximately 90 students, so the cost per student will be approximately $73 each. Would YMCA provide this program without our support? Perhaps. Depends on other donations to the program from other entities. Our grant moves the program to a near certainty. There has been difficulty on the part of YMCA to hire instructors. The General Manager at YMCA currently has enough staff at the moment and has committed to making the extra effort to get the staff for Make a Splash this fall. He understands that our grant is earmarked for this program only. It is not for general funding.
Transportation $1500
Staff Instruction $5000
Addendum to Project Description (added after the project was signed)
Project summary: Swimming lessons for Whittier Elementary 3rd graders including transportation.
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