During each ZAC Camp, children have the opportunity to learn how to be safe in a potential water emergency from those who know best – their local First Responders. They enjoy water safety classes in the pool with qualified swimming instructors and lifeguards. Students learn basic swimming and self-rescue skills, as well as how to receive assistance in a water emergency. These valuable lessons establish lifelong water safety habits.
The ZAC Foundation held its very first water safety awareness camp called ZAC Camp in Greenwich, CT in April 2011. Since then, the Foundation has successfully organized and hosted ZAC Camps across the country. Our Camps are designed to provide children access to professional swim instruction and important lessons regarding water safety through a creative and engaging curriculum.
ZAC Camps teach children aged 5 to 9 valuable information to keep them safe in any body of water by sharing lessons using three primary educational stations – classroom activities, in-water swimming instruction, and First Responder interaction. Each station reinforces four essential safety lessons called the ABC and D’s of water safety – Adult supervision, Barriers around water, water safety Classes, and Drain safety.
The Foundation has partnered with a variety of local outreach programs, including local Boys & Girls Clubs of America and YMCAs, as well as the American Red Cross, to develop and provide an educational and interactive program for the participants. Another way the Camps keep children’s attention and encourages participation is through the inclusion of local police and fire departments, prominent U.S. Olympic swimmers, U.S. Congressmen, and other celebrities in its curriculum.
In 2013, The ZAC Foundation launched a national partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, which brought its award winning ZAC Camps to Clubs in more than 10 states across the country, expanding in 2014 to 25 cities. For the third year of the partnership, 20 Boys & Girls Club locations will host the water safety camps.
The ZAC Foundation will engage nearly a million children and their families through it’s partnership with Time for Kids in 2016. Delivered in a classroom setting, The ZAC Foundation’s magazine will enable teachers to educate their students about the importance of water safety, and facilitate a conversation between children and their parents about the A, B, C and D’s of water safety.
Through a unique partnership with the American Red Cross, The ZAC Foundation will fund a program which will deliver a comprehensive Learn to Swim program to the City of Chicago. Certifying Water Safety Instructors (WSI), training life guards and bringing 500 children though the American Red Cross Learn to Swim program will enable the Chicagoans to be safer around water.
To advance water safety, The ZAC Foundation collaborated with some of the best community organizations across the country like the YMCA, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the American Red Cross to bring water safety education to parents, children, educators and lawmakers.
