Saving Young Lives by Teaching Water Safety at ZAC Camp at Green Bay’s East Side YMCA

Saving Young Lives by Teaching Water Safety at ZAC Camp at Green Bay’s East Side YMCA

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Children from around the Green Bay area are on Spring Break this week.  But that doesn’t mean it’s time to stop learning. As Local 5’s Kris Schuller reports, some kids are spending their holidays at the YWCA learning water safety.

Inside the Green Bay YMCA’s East Side Center, lots of kids get ready to get wet, to learn the rules of water safety.

“Alright are you ready?” said one instructor. “O-K. Put your hands on the side and get in the safe way. “

“We’re trying to teach kids how to be safe in and around water,” said Wendy Grelson of the YMCA.

For the 6th year the Connecticut based ZAC Foundation has partnered with the Green Bay Boys and Girls Club and the YMCA to teach life-saving water safety skills here at Zac Camp to at-risk kids, ages 5 to 9.

“It is beyond important,” said Brianna Laack, an instructor at the camp. “They are more at risk so they don’t always get to see or learn about water safety.”

The foundation – established by a couple who suffered a horrible loss.

“They tragically lost their son to a drowning in their home pool, so they wanted to insure that this never happened to another child,” said Grelson.

So, for the next four days – these children will interact with first responders, learn the fundamentals of water safety and then put them into practice, hopefully preventing future accidental drownings which are the second leading cause of death in kids ages 5-14.

“We want to make sure they leave at the end of camp knowing what they need to do to stay safe,” Grelson said.

Lifesaving lessons – taught here at ZAC Camp.

More than 10,000 kids all across the country have participated in ZAC Camp in recent years.


March 19, 2018