Brewers’ second baseman Rickie Weeks has donated $25,000 to the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee to help fund its Swim School, a program based at the Northside YMCA that teaches kids the importance of water safety.
The program, which serves second and third grade students from Milwaukee’s Lindsey Heights neighborhood, began in 2011 as a way to combat the prevalence of drowning among children. Drowning ranks as the second leading cause of death for youth ages 1 to 14, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Swim School aims to address the problem of child drownings by helping kids learn about water safety,” said Jessica Mieling, director of aquatics at the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee. “We are grateful to Rickie Weeks for his generous donation and look forward to empowering even more children to be confident and safe in the water this year.”
The upcoming fall session of Swim School will educate 110 students from Brown Street Academy and Keefe Avenue School. The program hopes to target 500 kids throughout the current school year.
More information about the YMCA’s Swim School and its mission can be accessed at www.ymcamke.org.
