Developing a Lifejacket Drive

I’m not sure about everyone, but my best ideas come to me when my mind is open. Lifeguarding 2 lap swimmers at 5:30am happened to be one of those times for me – the words “life jacket drive” flashed through my head. As soon as I was able to take a break, I texted my supervisor to see if she liked the idea. After an enthusiastic “this is amazing! We will talk when I get in” text, I started planning.

Let the Idea Blossom

“What is a lifejacket drive?” “How do I explain this idea to my Recreation Director?”, “Will I have enough buy-in from my community?” 

All of these questions were racing through my head as I sat down to explain to my supervisor the concept that was forming in my mind. As soon as she got into the building I sat down in her office and started sharing my ideas. 

“I want to hold a Lifejacket Drive the weekend before Memorial Day. Anyone in the community can trade in a lifejacket for a free day pass to our outdoor pool. I will cut up the bad ones and the good ones we can use at our pools. I want to couple this with ‘Wear Your Lifejacket to Work Day’. Do you think we can get people at City Hall to participate?” 

Full disclosure: this came out as a jumble of words in one long, run-on sentence, but she understood what I was trying to get across. There are always going to be life jackets in our community that the public doesn’t know how to dispose of, but we can provide them a safe space to drop them off without judgement - and a bonus swimming day!

Planning A Life Jacket Drive: Five Months of Water Safety in Action

Her first question to me was about how we could bring attention to the drive, how to promote and, and how to make sure the public understood our goals. We decided to create a water safety initiative. We enlisted the lifeguards to help us create funny but educational videos about water safety that ended with a clear message about water safety. Our first message was “Just Don’t Jump January”:  if you see someone in a body of water that needs help but there is no one else around, don’t jump! Grab a long item and secure yourself to something, and pull the person in. And we ended in May with our Life Jacket Drive and drowning statistics. With a full plan in place, we got the blessing of our Recreation Director and got started. 

We started creating videos at the end of 2023 and posted our first one in January 2024. This video started the conversation about the need for water safety not only within our organization but also with the public. I was able to speak at a City Council meeting two weeks prior to the Life Jacket Drive which grew interest and gave us a huge platform to be able to explain to everyone exactly what we were doing. 

Wear Your Life Jacket to Work Day 

After months of planning and social media promotions, it was suddenly May. We went to City Hall the day before Wear Your Life Jacket to Work day with a goal of taking photos so that we could post them throughout the day on Friday. I was NERVOUS. Would we get enough people to buy into my crazy idea? City Hall is where all the serious business takes place, and it always seems intimidating, but, boy, did they prove me wrong! As I timidly explained what we were doing to the first person, the smile on their face and overwhelming excitement to help their community was tangible. The more people that we asked, the more excited everyone got. 

We made some amazing posts on Wear Your Life Jacket to Work Day to let the public know how much our City values water safety and shared information about the Life Jacket Drive the following weekend. 

Life Jacket Drive Weekend

I came in on Saturday so excited to kick off this event, and I did not receive a single lifejacket in my 8 hour shift. As I left, a little deflated, I reminded myself that it was a new event that might need more promotion, and that not everyone is as passionate about water safety as I am. As I approached the check-in desk on Sunday, trying to keep my spirits high, what I saw made me burst into tears – the check-in desk was PILED with lifejackets. Some were old, some were brand new, we even got boat pads from someone who simply did not know how to dispose of them – and that is exactly why we held the drive. 

We were able to dispose of the lifejackets that were no longer usable and got 43 usable life jackets that we were able to dedicate to one of our day camp programs. We were able to ease the mind of 43 day camp parents knowing they are sending their children to a pool with dedicated life jackets for day camp. 

Looking Forward to Year 2

With May rapidly approaching, I am SO excited to see how many lifejackets we get this year and the impact we can make in our community by providing a safe space to swim, with the resources available to those who need them.