By St. Marys Independent Staff
The Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Search and Safety is granting over $10,000 to aquatic programs in St. Marys in support of four key initiatives.
The wish list was identified by the town’s aquatics manager in collaboration with the fund founder and all share the themes of water safety and education.
The first initiative will offer swimming lessons for newcomers to Canada – those who’ve been here three years or less – as well as help subsidize lessons for people facing financial barriers. The second initiative will loan lifejackets to residents and to families with limited resources, helping to ensure safe participation in all kinds of water activities.
The third initiative is intended to address safety issues related to language barriers at the popular St. Marys Quarry, which last year welcomed 28,000 visitors from all over the world. Using new touch-screen technology, important safety messages (depth of water, equipment, swimming boundaries etc.) will be conveyed at an entrance kiosk in multiple languages. Lifeguards will also be able to communicate with non-English-speaking visitors using iPads and translation technology.
Lifeguard training will be enhanced through the fourth initiative, which includes new and updated equipment and courses as the town works toward a sustainable supply of new lifeguards.
“In Canada, water is all around us and it plays a big part in our recreation, so being able to swim becomes a necessary life skill,” said Cook-Rees Memorial Fund founder and Stratford resident Loreena McKennitt in a press release. “About 500 people drown in Canada every year, so these kinds of programs are extremely important.
“Additionally, we recognize that various kinds of lifeguard training and equipment is also required to create a safe water environment. We’re pleased to offer this range of support and are grateful to the many local citizens who have donated to the fund, including the Cook and Rees families. Their generosity has made this kind of donation possible.”
Subsidized lessons will begin in the spring after a renovation to the Aquatics Centre at the Pyramid Recreation Centre, and other initiatives are in development for launching next summer. Exact timelines will be posted on the St. Marys Aquatics webpage.
“We are so grateful to Loreena and the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for this generous contribution which allows us to put these programs into place,” said St. Marys manager of aquatics Andrea Slade. “Clearly, we share the same end goal – to make everyone as safe as possible.”
Founded in 1998 in Stratford, The Cook-Rees Memorial Fund For Water Search And Safety was established by McKennitt in memory of her fiancé, Ronald Rees, his brother, Richard Rees, and their friend, Gregory Cook, who all perished in a boating incident on Georgian Bay in July 1998. With support from their families and friends, and using $3 million in proceeds from the sale of her recording, Live in Paris and Toronto, the fund has since awarded grants to more than 20 Canadian organizations at the local, provincial and national levels for education, research, training and equipment purchases.
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