Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation’s mission to “save a life, one swim lesson at a time” has already made huge waves in 2024. This is thanks to the generous support of our valued friends like YOU! We’re grateful for our donors, partners, and friends who have helped us impact a record number of children and families this year. Your support has made a lifesaving difference for so many in need. Below are some highlights of what we’ve been up to in 2024.
– Stew & Kim Leonard, Co-Founders, Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation
40K Swim Lessons Donated this Year!
Our foundation is honored to have partnered with Olympic Gold Medalist Rowdy Gaines and
Step into Swim, a program with the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance, to award $400,000 in grants in 2024 to dozens of organizations, such as YMCAs and Boys and Girls Clubs. These grants are funding 40,000 free and low-cost swimming lessons for thousands of underserved children in NY, CT, and NJ who are at-risk of drowning so they can learn lifesaving water skills.
Seeing Our Grantees In Action
Sarah Caro, our Director of Charitable Giving, and Rowdy Gaines, who recently joined our Foundation’s Board of Directors, visited three of our incredible grantees in May: Norwalk Recreation and Parks (recipients of a $10K donation), Rye YMCA ($15K), and BronxWorks ($10K). We love seeing the kids have fun in their swim lessons and watching the amazing instructors in action. We’re grateful to all our partners for their outstanding dedication to water safety and swim education in their communities. They’re changing lives through their hard work and passion!
Rye YMCA
BronxWorks
Norwalk Recreation and Parks
Olympic Trials in Indianapolis
Our good friend Rowdy generously invited me, my family, and Laurie Houseknecht, Chief Stewie the Duck Officer at Stewie the Duck Swim School, to watch the Olympic Trials for swimming in the NBC Box. They built a pool just for these trials in the Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts! We met so many powerhouses in the swimming world and even got to witness world records get shattered! Thank you to Rowdy and everyone involved for the experience of a lifetime!
Let’s Go Ali!
Good luck to Darien-native & para swimmer Ali Truwit on the world’s biggest stage this summer! Ali was a Yale University swimming champ who lost her foot and part of her leg in a shark attack last summer.
I get goosebumps when I think about Ali’s journey. Here’s a person faced with a tragedy, and what does she do? Curl up in the corner and repeat, “How will I go on?” Nope! Ali jumped right back into the pool! What resilience and what an example for others facing a tragedy. Her journey will be an inspiration for many, many people. Ali’s story really resonates with me and I’m SO PROUD of her!
All of us here at Stew’s will be following Ali’s Instagram page at @atruwit.
Celebrating the First Anniversary of the Norwalk Swim School + NEW Clifton Swim School
As of June 1, 2024, Stewie the Duck Swim School has officially been open for one year. We are teaching more than 1,000 students a week how to swim, which is incredible! All net profits from our school go back to funding swim lessons for kids in need throughout the tri-state area. This summer, we’re busy with our regularly scheduled lessons, along with our Speed Weeks, hosting the Horizons camp program for their swim lessons, and ongoing staff training.
Our dream is to open more Stewie the Duck Swim Schools throughout the tri-state area so we can teach thousands more lifesaving swimming skills. We just signed a lease for a space in Clifton, New Jersey – next door to our new Stew Leonard’s store! We aim to open in 2025!
While most of our students are children, we are proud to teach swimmers of all ages. Our oldest student is 81-year-old Dorothy Grimm, who never learned how to swim. Fun fact: she was my daughter Blake’s piano teacher! Dorothy has young grandchildren and wants to know that she can jump in the pool to help them if needed. Go, Dorothy! It’s never too late to learn how to swim!
For more information on Stewie the Duck Swim School and to sign up for lessons – no matter your age – go to stewietheduck.org
We’re Certified!
Last week, my daughter Ryann and I got certified to be lifeguards! We dedicated hours to training and learning all the skills needed to pass the test. Next time you see me I may be lifeguarding at Stewie the Duck Swim School… though I may leave that to our amazing team!
Water Safety Tips
The summer is fun as pools, beaches, and lakes are all open and we enjoy the water with our families. However, it’s also a scary time as drowning is the number one cause of death for children under the age of four. Caregivers need to be extra careful as kids become curious at those ages. Here are some water safety tips from Laurie, our Chief Stewie the Duck Officer at the Stewie the Duck Swim School in Norwalk:
- Always swim near a lifeguard but remember…lifeguards are the backup! Parents, or the designated water watcher, should never take their eyes off the kids.
- Put down your phone! Drownings happen in seconds. We see that it’s usually a lapse in supervision – not a lack of it.
No matter what time of year, keep your child enrolled in swim lessons so they can learn how to swim and BE SAFE in and around the water! Kids who take swimming lessons are 88% less likely to drown than kids who do not.
Spread the Word: Don’t Jump In Til You Learn to Swim!
We’ve been busy the past several months speaking to the media to increase public awareness about water safety. Check out clips from some of our recent media events:
- I spoke to Fox News about water safety – 7/31/2024
- The Hour covered a water safety event we did with Swim Angelfish and the Wilton YMCA
- FOX News Digital water safety interview – 7/23/2024
- Op-Ed with BronxWorks in AMNY – 7/11/24
- 7/3/2024: I spoke at a water safety press conference co-hosted by the CT Department of Energy & Environmental Protection and the Waterbury YMCA, which received coverage on WTNH-TV, NBC CT, FOX 61, and CT Insider.
- 6/29/2024: The Hour covered a water safety event at Shorehaven Country Club that benefited Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation.
- 6/26/2024: I was interviewed by Newsmax2 about water safety
- 6/25/2024: I joined Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman for a water safety press conference at Wantagh Park Pool; the event was covered by WCBS-TV, WABC-TV, LI Herald, East Meadow Herald, and News 12 LI.
- 6/13/2024: Laurie Houseknecht was interviewed by the CT Post about how swim lessons can reduce the drowning rate.
- 6/3/2024: Kim and I spoke with the Clifton Times about our foundation and plans to open a second Stewie the Duck Swim School in Clifton, NJ.
- 5/23/2024: I spoke at a water safety press conference at Jones Beach hosted by NY Governor Kathy Hochul.
- 5/21/2024: Laurie H. spoke with The Hour about summer water safety
- 5/6/2024: Kim and I hosted a press conference at Stewie the Duck Swim School with Senator Blumenthal, 3x Olympic Gold Medalist in swimming Rowdy Gaines, Yale swimming champ/Para swimmer Ali Truwit, Stewie the Duck’s own Laurie Houseknecht, and Norwalk NAACP President Brenda Penn Williams. The event helped raise awareness of the need for swimming lessons for kids and lifeguard training, as well as highlighted the fact that black children are 5x more likely to drown than white children. We also announced a partnership with Step Into Swim to award $400,000 in grants in 2024, which will provide 40,000 swim lessons to kids in need in NY, NJ, and CT. The event was covered by WABC-TV at Noon and 4 p.m., News 12 CT, CT Insider, News 12 Westchester, NBC CT, FOX 61, WSHU-FM and CT NPR.
Book Readings
As part of Water Safety Awareness Month in May, Sarah Caro visited several preschool and elementary schools throughout the tri-state area where she spoke to 1,000 children about important ways to be safe around the water and read Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim. The best part is always singing the water safety song with help from Stewie the Duck!
Coming Up
27th Annual Golf Outing
Monday, Sept. 16, 2024
We’re excited to host our 27th Annual Stewie the Duck Golf Outing on Monday, September 16, 2024, at the Brae Burn and Century Country Clubs in Purchase, New York. This is our largest fundraiser of the year and ALWAYS sells out so get your tickets today! Thank you to everyone who has already purchased tickets and sponsored this event! Event proceeds support our water safety programs, including funding free swim lessons for kids in need. Learn more and sign up here! For more information, email golf@stewietheduck.org. See you on the course!
TSC New York City Marathon
Sunday, November 3rd
Help us cheer on our six Team Stewie members as they run the 2024 TCS New York City Marathon! These incredible runners are training hard and raising money to support our organization. Last year they raised $30K! Help us beat that amount by donating here!
