Calvin’s last high school swimming marathon

Next weekend, Calvin will swim his last marathon with the high school swim team. Every year the high school hosts a marathon to raise money for their swimming program and also to help pay off a pledge to our local Children’s Hospital.

You can read past posts about Calvin’s high school swimming career here, winning a silver medal here
This is Where I Spent My Morning and the entire saga of getting him on the swim team in the first place!

Children’s Hospital is serves a large population in Akron and surrounding rural areas. They are well known for their burn center. From the press release:

This fundraiser marks the first year of the team’s five-year pledge to raise $22,750 for purchase of “Fun Centers” for the patient floors at Akron Children’s. The swimmers at Firestone chose the Fun Centers to help alleviate the boredom of a long hospital stay and help distract the kids at Akron Children’s from their condition, at least for a little while. Each Fun Center will be able to be wheeled next to a child’s bed and is planned to include a 15” Flat Screen Monitor, DVD player, 5 DVDs, Nintendo Wii and 3 Wii Games.

The team is inviting companies and individuals to participate by becoming a sponsor or swimmer for the event. Refreshments are also needed for the participants. Anyone interested may call the Firestone High School Natatorium Office at 330-873-3321. Monetary pledges can be made on line at www.firestoneswim.com.

Other areas at Children’s that have been supported by the Marathon Swim include donations to the Clifford R. Boeckman, M.D. Regional Burn Center; renovation of a patient room on the Adolescent floor; a patient exercise room in the Cardiology Department; and arthroscopy equipment for use in orthopedic surgeries. The team has raised more than $125,000 for Akron Children’s Hospital.

The swimmers will arrive at the pool at some unGodly hour on Saturday morning, and will swim for a few hours in shifts. They will also spend time at the local grocery store to solicit pledges and cash donations. By the end of the marathon each one of those kids will be starving, tired and happy for a job well done!! It’s really an exciting and fun event to watch.

Part of the proceeds also help the swim program continue with equipment, maintenance, coach salaries etc.

Pledging is fast and painless! If you’d like to help out just go here to pledge. You can post a lump sum or per lap (careful – he can swim a lot of laps!!!)

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