Stew Leonard’s family and Olympian are offering 40,000 free swimming lessons

NORWALK – As the weather warms and pools open this summer season, the threat of children drowning is once again a priority for families like the Leonards.

Last year, Stew and Kim Leonard opened Stewie the Duck Swim School in honor of their son, who died from drowning at age 21, in hopes of preventing another parent from having to experience the loss they endured.

“Our family, we lost a child, which they say is the worst thing that can happen in your life,” Stew Leonard said during a news conference Monday morning. “He drowned. It wasn’t from lack of supervision, because there were a dozen adults around; it was from lack of supervision.”

This summer, the Leonards, along with Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines’ organization Step Into Swim, are providing $400,000 in grants to local organizations to provide 40,000 free swimming lessons in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.

“Drowning is an epidemic in our country,” Gaines said. “It is the leading reason for unintentional death in children aged 1 to 4 years. Number one in the country.”

Recipients of the grants include Swim Angelfish, an organization that teaches children with autism the essential skill of swimming. The organization will receive $10,000 to provide 13 children with autism with weekly classes for 13 weeks.

“The cost of raising a child with special needs is enormous and to be able to take one worry off their shoulders and say ‘we’ve got you, don’t worry about the cost and we’ll make your child safer’ is so a gift,” says Ailene Tisser, co-founder of Swim Angelfish.

Norwalk Recreation and Parks will also receive $10,000 to provide 250 children with eight swimming lessons at Calf Pasture Beach and Norwalk High School. Several regional YMCA chapters also receive funding for free classes.

“It is important that children of all ages know how to save themselves and understand the importance of water safety,” said Brenda Penn Williams, president of the NAACP of Norwalk. “The study found that more than 64 percent of black children cannot swim and are at risk of drowning.”

In Connecticut, 1,521 children receive lessons, a total of 13,035 lessons.

“Only about 10 percent of low-income children know how to swim,” said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who joined the Leonards in celebrating the scholarships. “This issue is a major challenge for our country.”

Leonard’s grandson, Barrow, recently started taking swimming lessons at Stewie the Duck Swim School.

“If you haven’t had the opportunity to give your child swimming lessons, talk to him or her about the importance of not getting in the water without asking permission,” says Kim Leonard.

To emphasize the importance of swimming, Yale swimming champion Ali Truwit shared the story of how swimming skills saved her life when a shark bit off her foot.

“I’ve always loved the water, but here today we’re discussing how swimming saves lives, and it certainly saved mine 11 months ago when I was attacked by a shark while snorkeling with a former college teammate,” Truwit said .

“We quickly found ourselves in the position of having to swim about 75 yards in the open ocean back to the boat to save ourselves, and we did that,” Truwit recalled. “Swimming and knowing how to swim was what saved us, and that’s why I stand here today with the utmost gratitude to my swimming teachers and my swimming coaches and my teammates and the sport itself for helping me survive a life or death situation.

Less than a year after surviving a shark attack, Truwit is training to try out for the U.S. Paralympic swimming team and hopes to compete in Paris this summer.

Truwit, Gaines, Stew Leonard and Stewie the Duck director Laurie Houseknecht raced in the training pool as Blumenthal timed them. Truwit won, with Gaines second, Houseknecht third and Leonard fourth.