Portable pool to offer swim education in Williamsburg County | News
Kids in Walterboro and St. George learn water safety, thanks to a portable pool program through the YMCA and community partners.
On Tuesday, November 19, David Byrd, CEO of the YMCA of Coastal Carolina and Erin Pate of the Open Spaces Institute appeared before Williamsburg County Council to present a solution to the lack of swim safety education in Williamsburg County.
As the Black River State Park develops, there will be more public access to water along the river through Williamsburg and Georgetown counties. The public parks along the river will provide a lot more access to nature and recreation opportunities on the river. But this access could prove dangerous to those without proper water safety skills.
“A lot of folks in the community may not feel comfortable around water, especially kids who may not have access to swimming lessons or swim safety lessons and so we started thinking about that,” says Pate who is the Southeast Development & Community Engagement Coordinator for Open Spaces Institute. Her organization works to protect land and support clean water, climate protection and healthy communities, and to safeguard places like parks for recreation and animal habitats.
With help of grant, YMCA of Coastal Carolina expanding to Andrews
Pate sat down with Byrd over coffee earlier this year and talked about what would be needed to start a swim education program in Williamsburg County to ensure the people of the county could safely enjoy the new state park.
“Right now there’s really not an opportunity in the county for kids to get swim safety lessons and we know how important that is,” says Pate.
Williamsburg County has had several community pools in the past. The Tomlinson community pool has been closed for more than 30 years. Money has been allocated to reopen the St. Lawrence community pool, but a lack of funding and resources have stalled the process indefinitely.
Funding issues drowning community pool project
According to the CDC, approximately 4,000 unintentional drowning deaths occur annually in the United States, with highest rates among non-Hispanic Black or African-American children aged one to four years. According to the World Health Organization, drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death in children age one to 14 years. The U.S. National Water Safety Action Plan recommends all people have access to basic swimming and water safety skills to reduce drowning deaths.
The YMCA has successfully partnered with Colleton, Dorchester and Charleston counties for a portable pool program to teach swim safety and lessons. The pools are steel construction, permitted by DHEC and function as a regular public pool.
Across Colleton and Dorchester counties seven organizations partnered together in 2023 to launch the Splash into Safety swim program. Over the course of the four-week program 335 children were taught drowning prevention and water safety in rural areas across Dorchester and Colleton counties.
“We established the program during the summer of 2023 and it ran for two weeks in Dorchester County and two weeks in Colleton County for summer of 2023 and summer of 2024,” says Dr. Chris Myers, Director Colleton County Parks and Recreation.
“Colleton County Parks and Recreation owns our pool while lifeguard/instruction is provided by the Summerville YMCA,” says Myers. The Splash into Safety program in Colleton County and has won numerous awards over the last two years.
There are currently plans to bring the 700 square foot portable pool to Williamsburg County in the summer of 2025 through a partnership with Georgetown YMCA according to Byrd. The YMCA program will work closely with Williamsburg County Parks and Recreation to determine two locations for the pool, and to spread the word about the swim safety classes. YMCA trained lifeguards will teach classes and monitor swimmers. A locked cover will be placed over the pool when not in use.
The YMCA has been serving the Georgetown community for close to 20 years and launched services in the Andrews community in January of this year. A full-time staff person was hired, due to a generous donation by the Parsons Foundation. The YMCA in Andrews has partnered with Rosemary Middle and Andrews High school for their Y Achievers Program, a nationwide program focused on 11-to 17-year-olds that gets them ready for careers or college. Additional YMCA programing will be run in different areas throughout Andrews in conjunction with community partners.
According to Byrd, the YMCA focuses on five major vision areas including community health: supporting the community’s health needs with focus on Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, blood pressure and weight management; mental health; college and career readiness for teens; preschool education; and safety around water.
Byrd has been meeting with Williamsburg County officials to discuss additional ways the YMCA can expand programing in Kingstree and the surrounding areas.
Williamsburg County Supervisor Kelvin Washington says he is excited about the partnership with the YMCA and looks forward to more programing opportunities in the future.
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