Across the nation some deep pockets, and celebrities, are helping fund beleaguered aquatics programs. First Niagara Financial Group, based in Buffalo N.Y., is donating $650,000 toward keeping pools open and financing swim lessons in Philadelphia this summer. Earlier this year, In Grand Rapids, Mich., wealthy hotelier and retailer Bob Sullivan pledged to completely bankroll the Richmond Park Pool where he swam as a child.
Additionally, recording artist and native Hawaiian Jack Johnson is helping underwrite the cost of a Junior Lifeguard Program on the island of Oahu.