SplashForward

🎉Happy Father’s Day!!💙💦 to all the dads who want to give their kids the skills to enjoy and be safe around the water. Playing together in the water is a swim lesson🏊🏊‍♂️💦. Play builds confidence and water skills without the formal appearance of a swim lesson. We are working to bring all the dads in our region a place to play with their kids, provide swim lessons, and introduce their kids to a full range of water activities!

Let’s go to the pool and play! 💙💦

Next Saturday, come to the 🏖 beach and check out the City of Bellevue's first 💦🏊Open Water Safety Day at Meydenbauer Bay Park from 12-3pm. We'll be there as a community partner sharing water safety activities and information. 💙💦

The event is hosted by the Bellevue Aquatics and includes hands-on activities, demonstrations, and interactive booths. The goal is for participants to build confidence and preparedness for activities such as open water swimming, boating, paddle sports, jet skiing, and more—all while learning how to stay safe and respond in emergency situations.

Demonstrations include kayak flips, Skwim game play, and water rescue techniques by Bellevue Fire, Marine Patrol, and King County Sheriff.

👉Bring a friend or bring the family! See you there!

City of Bellevue, Washington - Government
Bellevue Parks & Community Services
Bellevue Aquatic Center

The official 🎉Juneteenth Flag ⭐ was first created in 1997 to commemorate June 19, 1865 when the end of slavery was declared by order in Galveston, Texas. Putting an end to uneven enforcement in Texas. The colors were intentionally chosen from our 🇺🇸 US flag to declare African Americans as American, and the central star refers to Texas surrounded by a bursting star conveying a new beginning.

Bellevue strives for excellence in welcoming the world and celebrating its cultural diversity. Meeting our region’s African American and Black community where they are is central to our aquatic pathways mission to create equitable aquatic pathways and aquatic opportunities at the new Bellevue Aquatic Center and through our programs. This includes 💦building community partnerships, 💦collectively removing barriers, and 💦expanding access to essential swim skills and aquatic journeys.

We rescheduled last month's class so more students can join us!

Looking to learn or practice the prerequisites for an American Red Cross Lifeguard Training certification class? Join us this coming Sunday for a Skill Strengthening Class taught by an experienced Lifeguard Instructor at the Overlake Golf & Country Club. We'll teach you the skills in a fun, low-stress environment, and give you feedback.

💦Sunday, June 21st
💦10am - 11am - post class muffins & bagles provided!
💦Overlake Golf & Country Club
💦Ages 14 - 18yrs (8th grade - High School) are welcome!

Register Today!
👉Visit our 🔗in bio or https://bit.ly/Lifeguard
✍Sign up & 🗣 tell a friend!

It’s nearly ☀️summertime in the PNW and 📚school is almost out! It’s a perfect time to learn about 💦🛟🏊‍♀️🏊‍♂️water safety and remember that our lake temperatures are still 🥶cold despite our summer weather vibes.

Yesterday, three of our Youth Ambassadors and lifeguards Hailey, Abigail, and Avery taught a water safety lesson to each of the 5th grader classes at Bennett Elementary (63 5th graders!). They introduced them to our water safety characters 💦Seasi and Flip and shared essential information on how to be safe around water, learn what to do if they are ever in trouble, what to do if someone else is in trouble, and how to help keep their friends and family safe!

💦Learn to Swim
💦Be or assign a Water Watcher
💦Swim where there is a lifeguard
💦Wear a lifejacket
💦Reach, Throw, Don’t Go
💦Flip, Float, and Relax

We had a blast with our interactive lesson and games! Thank you Bennett 5th Grade teachers for having us! This was our third year and we look forward to coming back again next year.

👉Interested in helping teach our water safety lesson with us next year? Join our Youth Ambassador Committee or introduce us to your 5th grade teacher so we can coordinate. Visit our 🔗 in bio.

🙏Thank you! 💙💦 This May, we challenged our community to help us build a sustainable future for local aquatics, and you delivered in a massive way:

📈 We saw an incredible 36% increase in our monthly donor family! 💰 Thanks to a generous match from our board, every single dollar was doubled, raising just over ✨$38,000!💙💦

To our brand-new monthly donors and everyone who stepped up to donate during Monthly Giving May - THANK YOU!! 🙏🏊‍♂️🏊‍♀️

Monthly gifts give us the steady, predictable footing we need to plan ahead, advocate for world-class aquatic facilities, and offer life-saving programs like Every 2nd Grader Learns to Swim and High School Lifeguard Training. You are the heartbeat of SPLASHForward, and we couldn’t do this without you.

A warm welcome to all our new supporters—let’s keep moving forward, lap by lap! 💙

Big news! 🎉 SPLASHForward was selected by Kirkland Teens to receive a Youth Choice Grant Award as part of the Ignite Kirkland grant campaign! 🌊💙💦

Out of 28 incredible local organizations, a group of dedicated Kirkland teens determined our cause to be one of the most relevant, important, and effective in the community. We are one of just five selected organizations to receive $500 in funding from their rigorous grant-making process.

This award—generously sponsored by Amazon.com —will directly support our Every 2nd Grader Learns to Swim initiative. We are so incredibly grateful to the Kirkland Community Foundation for empowering local youth with a voice, funding, and a collaborative process to make a real difference.

To the high school students on the Ignite Kirkland Youth Task Force: 🙏Thank you! 💙💦Your award makes a big impact on the lives of local 2nd graders and will have lasting ripple effects across our community.

🙌 Want to join these amazing teens in making waves? 🌊
👉 DONATE to support our Every 2nd Grader Learn to Swim Program: http://bit.ly/IgniteKirklandSwim

🎉Today kicks off the 🔥Ignite Kirkland giving campaign! SPLASHForward is honored to be selected as one of only 28 organizations to participate. Our impact is ✨100% local, and today, your support goes further than ever.

💦The Challenge: The Kirkland Community Foundation is ✨matching the first $500 donated to SPLASHForward TODAY ONLY until that $500 is met!

💦Why it matters: We are raising funds to cover 🚌transportation from school to pool and back for our Every 2nd Grader Learns to Swim Program🏊🏊‍♂️, which provides free swim lessons and water safety curriculum during the school day. For many students who participate, this will be their very first time in a pool.

👉DONATE STARTING AT 6AM today - https://bit.ly/IgniteKirklandSwim

100% of your donation goes directly to our program. Let’s ignite a safer future for Kirkland’s kids! 🏊‍♂️🏊💙💦