The Founders
The Make a Splash initiative was created by USA Swimming in an attempt to decrease the number of accidental drowning deaths, as well as the near drowning incidents, in the United States. Furthermore, the program aims at fostering greater diversity in the sport and encouraging people of all ages to embrace swimming as a direct route to a healthier lifestyle.
Nine people drown in the U.S. every day, and drowning is a leading cause of injury-related death for American children, under age 3. African-American children are considered especially at risk, as they experience drowning rates that are nearly triple the national average. USA Swimming believes that the most effective way to reduce drowning is by ensuring that all children learn to swim (www.usaswimming.org)
To go a step further, it is the opinion of Swim Gym Director Coach Robert Strauss, to offer the opportunity to everyone who does not know how to swim, to try to swim under the vigilant eye of a professional, in order for them to make a wiser decision when they are in the proximity of a body of water, and refrain from entering, if they are not sure they can exit.
The Make a Splash initiative was born of the idea created by Jim Ellis, whose story is told in the Lionsgate movie Pride. The film chronicles Ellis’ life as a charismatic school teacher in the 1970’s who changed lives forever when he founded an African-American swim team in one of Philadelphia’s roughest neighborhoods.
Since 1974, Coach Strauss has been an active partner and member of USA Swimming. The Swim Gym Swim School, as a result of its continued dedication to aquatic education was recently awarded a grant to help create a Make a Splash program locally in the City of Miami and the surrounding South Florida Community. In Swim Gym’s nearly 25-year history, we have taught well over 30,000 children and adults to swim. It is our goal through the H2Os Foundation, our existing resources, (which includes our highly trained staff), and continued fundraising to extend awareness and program application, to combat the drowning situation in our community.
The Program
The H2Os Foundation will attempt to go one step further than swimming lessons. Our intention is to not only teach children how to swim but also implement a program where we can implement diversity programs for those that already know how-to-swim, but would like to get lifeguard or water safety certifications.
The eventual goal of the program is to be cyclically subsistent. In other words, there will be children that join the program at childhood ages, develop as competitive swimmers or simply capable swimmers and then are able to give back and teach future generations once they acquire the skill set to teach and or lifeguard.
Our goal is not simply to teach children how to swim, but to encourage the benefits of an active lifestyle, the program’s aim is also to promote swimming as a healthy activity that can increase fitness and thereby reduce the risk of more than 30 obesity-related illnesses. Today’s children are the most inactive in history (American Obesity Association), and as a result, 1-in-3 children world-wide are at risk for obesity-related illnesses (US Center for Disease Control).
The H2Os Foundation intends to make a splash in the community and will extend a partnership to the Bay Point Schools, an alternative boarding school that provides educational/vocational and therapeutic services to moderate-risk adolescent boys, that was founded in 1995. These young men are looking for a better a quality of life, and can find a solution through aquatics, both for its healthy alternatives, as well as future employment.
Program Goals
OUR VISION:
Take the incidence of accidental drownings to level “0” in Dade County
OUR VALUE:
Improving our teacher training by certifying to the national standards of the American Red Cross, the national governing body of competitive swimming USAS, and the US Swim School Association
OUR MISSION:
Work closely with all organizations in the area in order to train more people to be water wise; to corroborate our vision and value
OUR OBJECTIVES:
Continue raising awareness through grants and donations with all those partnering to Make A Splash
OUR STRATEGY:
Train more men and women toward the end of high school and college years, as well as those people who want to be certified in the above mentioned areas to maintain the quality control of the program and to perform the labor intense task of our mission
OUR TIMELINE:
“Effective immediately!” Through the use of our two existing facilities at the Jewish Community Center in Kendall and The City of Miami Rowing Center on Virginia Key we can offer the services necessary to really Make A Splash in the community.
The Board of Directors
Todd Wheeler - Born and raised in the state of Washington, Todd enjoyed all sports including baseball, golf, kayaking and mountain climbing. He graduated from Washington State with an Industrial Engineering degree and moved east to New York. Following his sense of free spirit, he spent several years as a windsurfing instructor on Long Island and as a boat captain in Miami. While living in Miami, Todd joined AmeriFirst as a mortgage lender, and in 1988, became associated with Home Financing Center. For the past 20 years, he has used his keen business acumen and highly motivated philosophy of life to help build the company to its present day standing as the largest independently owned and operated mortgage lender in South Florida. In his quest to learn and experience more of life, Todd has added road biking and snow skiing to his repertoire of interests, but his greatest achievement is his role as Dad to his 9 year old son, Quentin. Todd is active as a member of the Coral Gables Rotary and the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce. 
Alan Strauss - currently the co-host of Dos Amigos, a weekly, Spanglish (Spanish and English), sports, entertainment, and pop-culture program on WAXY-790AM: The Ticket. ALAN has long been passionate about his career in broadcast journalism. He joined WSCV-51, Telemundo’s O&O in Miami, as an associate producer in November 2001. While there, he aided in the creation and production of the 5pm, 6pm and 11pm newscasts. Shortly thereafter, he was hired to write and associate produce at WPLG-10, Miami’s ABC affiliate. At WPLG, ALAN wrote for the Daybreak show, produced local morning news cut-ins for CNN’s Headline News, contributed story ideas to the special projects division, and was a contributing correspondent for the station’s website. In March 2002, ALAN joined ABC News as a researcher on the national and international assignment desk at the network’s headquarters in New York. His proven skills and talent landed him a coveted spot as a desk assistant for ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. He later went on to field produce, coordinate segments for the network’s coverage of the 1-year anniversary of 9/11, contribute as a correspondent for abcnews.com, segment produce for Nightline, and covering two Presidential State of the Union addresses. A native of Miami, of Colombian and Mexican descent, ALAN graduated from the University of Miami majoring in Broadcast Journalism and Spanish. He also has a graduate degree from UM in Sport Administration. ALAN currently resides in Miami, Florida.
Robert Strauss - Coach Robert Strauss has dedicated his life to the enrichment of early childhood development through aquatic play; while teaching and coaching age-group, high school, college (including elite athletes) and master’s, how to swim faster effectively and efficiently. Most educators teach in a classroom; Coach Strauss chose a swimming pool with tepid water temperature, to raise children, teach them to pay attention, listening skills and where they could find a life time activity. Coach Strauss goal is to help people of all ages to become: WATER WISE, if you are not positively sure that you can get out, do not go in the water. Accidental Drowning is a tragedy anywhere around the world, no matter the age, and even though it seems a little ambitious to try educating everyone, it is through seminars that these concepts are spread quicker. 
Clarita Kassin - Clarita Kassin was born in Barranquilla, Colombia to Turkish-Colombian parents. Her early education was done in the American school in the city of Barranquilla. At the age of 14 she left Barranquilla to attend a boarding school in Canada where she finished high school. She came back to Colombia where she attended La Universidad Javeriana and then married Roberto Kassin (z'l). They have three children: Valerie and Ezra, both married with children and Danielle, the youngest, engaged to be married later this year. Clarita, Roberto and their two eldest children left Colombia to come to Miami in 1978. Shortly thereafter, they recognized that Miami was to be their permanent home and hence they had a mission: to work in making Miami their Jewish community. Clarita and Roberto enrolled their kids in Samuel Scheck Hillel Community Day School and they both became community leaders in Hillel, the JCC, Hebraica , Wexner Heritage Foundation, The Greater Miami Jewish Federation (GMJF) and Aish Hatorah of South Florida. At the peak of Clarita and Roberto's community involvement, Roberto unfortunately developed cancer and passed away in 2000. Clarita set aside her retail store, which she had been working in for twenty-one years, and took over part of Roberto's banking business until Pointe Bank was sold five years later. Presently, she is not working, instead calling herself a "professional volunteer". She is currently the president of The Greater Miami Jewish Federation's Latin division.
Jonathan Strauss - Jonathan Strauss is the Director of Operations for Swim Gym Aquatics, Inc. He is also co-creator of South Florida's Premiere Action Sports Festival, 
