Our Mission and Purpose
"I didn't know drowning is the number one reason a healthy child will not survive to see their first day of kindergarten."
“ I didn’t know that drowning was silent, no big splash or cry for help like in the movies; it can happen in a pool full of adults and no one notices.”
"I didn't know as kids reach the age of 15, drowning rates triple, even among strong swimmers, due to the dangers of open water."
"I didn't know that a child under thirty pounds can drown in less than thirty seconds, and never be revived."
“I didn’t know there was such a thing as ‘layers of protection’ or the importance of self-rescue survival swimming lessons.”
“I didn’t know that creating a culture of fun in the water is dangerous for your children.”
I didn't know.....
"I didn't know..." is a phrased echoed time and time again by bereaved parents across the world when asked what could have made a difference for their child. Had they known, their child might still be alive. Yet with close to 10,000 non-profits aligned to drowning prevention or water safety, regular people still don't know.
That's how we came to start Parents Preventing Childhood Drowning (PPCD), the national education project of Swim Safe Forever, 501(C)3 public charity. Our mission is to end the childhood drowning endemic through coordinating individual efforts across the country into one unified voice raising awareness and changing our culture around water. We believe consistent education and awareness across the nation, with the use of ambassadors and other nonprofits, can fill gaps where there is a lack of drowning prevention education.
We have begun bringing individual non-profits together and have built a ground movement of ambassadors who launch social media and letter writing campaigns, host water safety events, lobby legislators, and meet with pediatricians. This is boots on the ground work with 60 ambassadors across 24 states generating hundreds of thousands of views by the general public on our pages, arming thousands of doctors' offices with our brochures to help them talk to patients’ families about drowning, and bringing our resources to local schools.
Drowning is preventable.