United Way pushes past 62 percent of $2.8M goal

The United Way of the Lowcountry Board of Directors announced gifts and pledges have been received totaling $1,747,906 or 62.4 percent of the organization’s 2012 fall goal of $2.8 million.

As part of United Way of the Lowcountry’s efforts to make the community a better, safer and healthier place to live and grow, the Wardle Family YMCA continues its swimming lesson program.

“Body Mass Index reports from the Beaufort County School District show that 37 percent of third graders and 40 percent of fifth graders were obese or overweight,” Michael Bostwick of the Wardle Family YMCA of Beaufort County said. “We hope to teach the fundamentals of swimming to prevent drowning and to encourage swimming as a way to reduce childhood obesity.”

Bostwick said of the 1,050 swimmers participating in swim lessons in 2011, 70 percent entered as beginners and more than 50 percent of the children advanced to the next level of curriculum.

A $50 donation to United Way of the Lowcountry creates an opportunity for a child to learn to swim at the Wardle Family YMCA.

In October, volunteer reading tutors began working in eight Lowcountry schools. The goal is to ensure that students are reading at grade level when they enter fourth grade. That ties to the long-term goal to reduce dropouts by 50 percent within 10 years in all Beaufort County and Jasper high schools.

To learn more about United Way of the Lowcountry and its work to make the community a better place, call 982-3040 or go to www.uwlowcountry.org. A secure online payment system is available.

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