Chiang Mai International Rotary Club (CMIRC)-Kru Payu Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Program (CWSDPP)
Our team at Kru Payu Swim and Bronco Kids Sport Club did it! In spite of all the Covid-19 closings, we completed our program for all of our twelve Chiang Mai schools during this school year. Congratulations Kru Payu Swim and Bronco Kids Sport Club!
Planning for next year is already underway. In Chiang Mai we will train all 4th-graders at all eleven municipal schools again this year. And, with the help of the Rotary Club of Chiang Mai-Wattana we will again include the Wat Suan Dok School as our 12th school. We will teach a total of approximately 350 4th-graders in Chiang Mai this school year.
The CMIRC Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Program (CWSDPP) in Chiang Mai is nearly completely funded this year by an Australian Embassy Direct Assistance Grant. Australian Honorary Consul Ron Elliott visited recently and we were able to thank him personally for his support and the support of the Australian government. (Below Australian Hon. Consul Ron Elliott is shown with Kru Payu at far left and Khun Pomme, owner of Bronco Kids Sports Club.)
In our Phrao Water Safety Program, working with our Warm Heart Foundation partners, we are planning next year to add five schools to the seven we already teach there, bringing our total in Phrao for the next school year up to twelve schools. This will result in a record number of 197 4th-graders taking our survival swim course in Phrao.
The last two years in Phrao we have relied on funding from the British Community in Thailand Foundation for the Needy (BCTFN). Due to Covid-19, BCTFN was unable to stage their major fundraiser this year and they are unable to fund our program in 2021. Fortunately, working with the BCTFN Northern Region Coordinator, Ian Bushell, we have been able to identify a private donor to fund our Phrao program this year, so there will be no interruption in our survival swim work in Phrao!
More good news, recently we were contacted by the Rotary Club Royal Hua Hin (RCRHH) with a request to learn more about how to set up and run a children’s water safety and drowning prevention program. They liked the information we sent and are now very interested in using our model to establish a RCRHH CWSDPP! I have been invited to speak to their club on April 27. As it happened my wife and I had already planned to vacation in Hua Hin from April 22 to 30, a very happy coincidence, or maybe some things are just meant to be!
THIS JUST IN:
The Grand Monadnock Rotary Club of New Hampshire where our friend Tom Westheimer is a member just announced a very much needed donation to our Chiang Mai International Rotary Club Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Program. The donated funds in the amount of $1250 will be used to buy swim equipment (bathing suits, swim caps, goggles, and float boards) for three programs. We will purchase equipment for 25 boys and 25 girls at three swim program locations (Chiang Mai, Phrao, and the Banya Migrant Learning Centre). The Rotary Club of Grand Monadnock donation will allow us to purchase 150 swim equipment sets. Since we reuse the equipment for each new class, hundreds of children will benefit from their generosity!
Finally, we welcome donations and new Rotary partners to help us continue and expand our program as we move into our 7th year of this life saving program.
We started this program in 2015 and we are still going strong and serving more children every year thanks to our wonderful sponsors and CMIRC volunteers! If you wish to help please contact Project Champion John Schorr at johnkschorr@gmail.com for more information.
CMIRC Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Team and Sponsors: