Aquatics programs in St. Marys are getting a financial boost.
The Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Search and Safety is granting more than $10,000 to support four key initiatives based around water safety and education.
A ‘wish list’ was identified by Town of St. Marys Aquatics Manager Andrea Slade in collaboration with the fund founder.
It includes swimming lessons for newcomers to Canada, loaning lifejackets to residents and to families with limited resources, improving safety issues at St. Marys Quarry and enhanced lifeguard training.
Slade told MyStratfordNow the funds will certainly help with safety.
“We are very happy and grateful that we were able to work with Loreena and the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for their generous contributions in order for us to get these initiatives up and running.”
Cook-Rees Memorial Fund founder Loreena McKennitt says water is all around us, and a big part of recreation, so being able to swim is a necessary life skill.
McKennitt says about 500 people drown per year in Canada so the programs are important.
She thanked residents that have donated to the funds, including the Cook and Rees families.
The fund was established in 1998 by McKennitt in memory of her fiancé, Ronald Rees, his brother Richard Rees and their friend Gregory Cook, who died in a boating incident on Georgian Bay.
