On behalf of my family, I want to first say – THANK YOU!!  Thank you to all of you who contributed to the Piedt Family Scholarship Fund last year, far exceeding my expectations of our impact.

We created this scholarship fund in response to the tragic death of my 5 year-old niece, Aria Grace, to raise funds to provide financial assistance for children to learn how to swim and increase awareness on the importance of Water Safety and Drowning Prevention programs.

Well, we did just that thanks to your generosity and we made more of a splash than our family ever imagined. Here are some wonderful facts and figures to note over the last two years:

• Funds Raised: $65,000

• Lives impacted: over 300 children (ages 3-11) have attended fully underwritten swim weeks and received goggles, a backpack full of swim gear, and more importantly, life-saving swim lessons by certified swim instructors at the Peter Blum YMCA of Boca Raton. This provides them the confidence to overcome their fears and play safely in and around the water.

• Publicity: The Boca Times & West Boca Times wrote articles covering as well WPTV channel 5 News promoted our first swim week.

Annually, the YMCA of South Palm Beach County teaches over 10,000 children life-saving, water-safety skills and 2,000 at-risk youth drowning prevention instruction in community pools and we need your continued support to not turn any children away, due to the inability to pay!

To continue our fully-underwritten swim weeks, please consider making a generous donation to the Piedt Family Swim Scholarship Fund. Know that as a donor-designated fund of the YMCA SPBC, 100% of your dollars are specifically going to financial-assisted families who cannot otherwise afford the YMCA’s swim & drowning-prevention programs via this scholarship fund.

Thank you for your support!

- Philip Piedt on behalf of the Piedt Family