I love the water. I’m a pool owner. My son was raised to swim; my mother taught him. But a disheartening truth is that many of my community don’t know how to swim. I often saw it as guests visited my house.
Drowning is preventable.
The purpose of Float Like a Boat is to increase the awareness of the technique to save yourself in water-based emergencies, by floating.
We teach emergency preparedness:
- If you’re on fire: Stop, drop and roll
- If a tornado is coming: Get in the hallway and cover your head
- And now, be prepared for an active shooter.
Yet, every year, we and/or our children get in water and have not been taught what to do if there’s an emergency or if your kids friends throw them in them pool.
Float Like a Boat is here now and teaches children (and adults) how to float when they are in water. The City of Riverdale implemented a program that accomplished the following:
- Increases the awareness of floating as a live saving technique to save lives
- Provides in-water floating lessons to our community
- Provides downloadable materials to aid in teaching how to float like a boat outside of water
2025 Float Like a Boat Goals
- Spread the message that floating is a way to save your life. This should be the first thing we remember when in water, just like we know what to do if we’re on fire.
- Encourage this message to be taught in schools at the same time other emergency preparedness is being taught, such as fire and tornado drills.
