Fall is the season of harvest; the traditional time of giving thanks for the fruits of our labors, whether literal fruits or the simple blessings realized throughout the year. It’s no wonder that the #GivingTuesday fundraising effort comes when it does.
In a time of turmoil unlike any other in our lifetimes, Hope Floats Foundation was overwhelmed this year by the generosity of its partners (and their supporters) during #GivingTuesday 2020. Collectively, over $51,000 was raised by and for partners of Hope Floats Foundation to help provide scholarships for swim lessons to disadvantaged children across the country. To better understand the impact, the cost of over 3,000 swimming lessons will be covered. These lessons will help save children’s lives. They will help ensure a family never feels the deep pain of the loss of a child due to accidental drowning. Hope Floats Foundation is grateful for those who believe in its mission, especially those who create awareness and provide funding. The power of one individual is amazing. The power of collective good is omnipotent. Giving fills the soul with hope!
There are many avenues one human being can take to make a lasting, positive impact on another (or on many for that matter). Every day there are millions of people of all ages, races, religions and varied economic status who are struggling with something truly, unimaginably difficult. Fortunately, every day there are also those people, many faceless do-gooders, who are making it their purpose to do what they can to help. Mary Kerr, member of USSSA, Founder/Owner of Aquatic Adventures Swim School in Roanoke, Virginia and Hope Floats Foundation Partner is one such person. Her passion to raise awareness and funding for causes close to her heart is inspirational.
Like many swim school owners, Mary was a competitive swimmer year-round when she was young. She competed on teams from her elementary years through high school. Although she opted not to swim competitively in college, she was a lifeguard and taught swim lessons in her spare time. This is where Mary’s story of helping others begins.
Mary started her college career as an education major at St. Leo College outside of Tampa, Florida. When she wasn’t in class, she was lifeguarding, coaching and teaching kids how to swim. Mary lived in an apartment off campus and had a neighbor, Gabby, a single mother with a 2 year-old son and a 4 year-old daughter. To help Gabby out, Mary would often babysit the kids without receiving anything in return as she knew Gabby worked hard to make ends meet. Mary recalls that Gabby had no car. She and her children had to take public transportation because the cost of having a car would take away from being able to provide for them.
Given that living in Florida meant being surrounded by water, Mary knew how important water safety and learning to swim was in that area. At the end of her sophomore year, she offered to teach Gabby’s daughter to swim for free upon her return to school in the fall. Sadly, she never had the opportunity. That summer, Gabby’s daughter drowned in a friend’s pool. A gate had been left open; it was an accident. Mary’s grief overcame her. She felt as though it was her fault. “I felt I had failed her,” said Mary.
That was the moment that, for Mary, “changed what teaching swimming meant.” Mary decided as long as she was alive, she would do everything in her power to not let that happen again under her watch. Although it was not at all her fault, a passion grew from that tragic drowning incident that would transform her into a woman with meaningful will to do good.
Mary left Florida in 1990 before graduating and moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. In Charlotte, she began developing her business as an independent contractor for the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center.
While in North Carolina, she was also a ski instructor outside of Boone in the winter. It was there that she met the head of the snowboard program, Mitch (“the love of <her> life”). They moved to Tennessee where Mary enrolled in East Tennessee State University and received a degree in Exercise Science. While attending ETSU, she continued working as the Aquatics Director for the local YMCA, which included teaching and coaching. In 1995, as swim schools were beginning to explode across the country, Mary rented pool space and started Aquatic Adventures in Johnson City, TN.
Mitch and Mary married three years after their move, lived modestly and oftentimes they struggled financially in the beginning. She promised herself she would not turn anyone away because they could not afford swim lessons.
With children in tow, the family moved just outside of Roanoke, Virginia, in 2003. There she re-opened Aquatic Adventures, first renting out space then, in 2008, owning her own. However, the combination of giving away unlimited free lessons to families in need, combined with increased overhead expenses was too much and Mary realized she could not keep up with the promise she had made. She was losing money at a rate faster than she was making it. She knew she had to do something. She started her own non-profit in order to be able to provide swim lessons at Aquatic Adventures to disadvantaged kids and children with special needs. Mary recalls thinking it would be a sure-fire way to help her situation.
However, she soon came to understand that she had “no idea” what she was doing. “I knew nothing about running a non-profit; or about the costs and time associated with starting one and keeping up with it all,” Mary confessed. In her head, she wrangled with raising funds to support her non-profit. The cause was clear but, to her, fundraising became complicated and daunting in that she felt that she was raising money for herself, as the owner of the school. She found all of it time consuming and difficult.
In 2018, at a USSSA conference, she met Cindy Tonnesen, Founder of Hope Floats Foundation and Christy Bostic, the Executive Director. After speaking to them about the Hope Floats scholarship model, Mary knew that they had the skills and knowledge to help her provide the assistance to the kids in need in her community. Mary said, “I realized I didn’t need to do the hard work, that I could concentrate on providing the swim instruction I was trained to give, and they would do that work for me.” Mary became a Hope Floats Partner in September of 2018.
Mary’s athleticism and passion for helping others was passed down to her four children: Meghan, Donovan, Killian and Aislinn. All of her kids, the oldest who is now 29 and the youngest is 20, have grown up in and around the pool at Aquatic Adventures and are huge advocates for water safety. Her daughters, Meghan and Aislinn, both swam competitively and loved to teach, mentor and coach. Her son Donovan, her second born, swam competitively until age 10 then decided Lacrosse was his sport. Killian, her second son and third born child, was somewhat restricted in what he could do because of Achromatopsia, a rare visual impairment he was born with.
Donovan was the only child who had an interest in partnering with his mom at Aquatic Adventures. He enjoyed being in the pool teaching lessons. He was passionate about helping people, whether adults or kids; anyone less fortunate, going through a hard time and those with disabilities. “Donovan loved working with kids most, he had a way with kids; and they just loved him. He had a special touch,” Mary told me over the phone.
He was also an incredible asset in terms of fundraising, as he helped organize and create a faithful following for their scholarship fundraisers. “He just knew a lot of people. He seemed to know everyone,” said Mary. I could hear the pride and the sadness in her voice. Sadly, Donovan passed away two years ago, at the age of 25, from an accidental drug overdose. Following a serious skateboarding injury while he was in high school, Donovan struggled with opiates from then on.
Enter passion number two, another cause ever so close to Mary’s heart: drug addiction, recovery and mental illness. As not to let his death be in vain, she found solace in a non-profit in her community, the Roanoke Foundation for Recovery, where she currently serves as BOD President. The mission of RFR is to eliminate the financial barrier that prevents many people from getting the help they need to begin their journey of recovery.
If you know Mary, even if only from her Facebook posts or from one long talk on the telephone with miles between you, you know she is a woman who cares deeply. She is a woman whose mission in life is doing what she can to help others, especially when it comes to drowning prevention, drug addiction and mental health. She speaks softly, but her message is loud. It carries.
Mary participated in #GivingTuesday for the first time this year. She and her Hope Floats Team raised $1,835 for scholarships at Aquatic Adventures. She is saving lives in the water with Hope Floats, and on the street with RFR.
Let Mary Kerr be an inspiration to you in the year ahead. Find your passion, your “why” in 2021 and roll with it. Share your story. When you are raising money and awareness for something you believe in with your whole heart, it’s a lot easier to do. It comes naturally, and people listen and follow when you can speak to a cause with honesty and conviction. In 2021, remember: Giving fills the soul with hope, and Hope Floats! Be a lifesaver and Swim It Forward!
Written by: Stef Baker, Hope Floats Partner Liaison