Help Coach Ann Prevent Childhood Drowning in Boise
Donation protected
I am Ann Moore or as many of you know me, Coach Ann. I have been providing survival swim lessons for the children of Boise for over 15 years and I’m writing to you today in the hopes that you will help support me in my goal to build a permanent, indoor pool home for ISR in our community. This is not something I can do alone and so I’m humbly reaching out for your support. The constant disruption of the ISR swim schedule caused by pool lease issues and changes is causing a decrease in the number of kids that can be reached with our program.
If you’re new to ISR and want to know why it’s so important to have this resource in our Boise community, we focus strictly on drowning prevention. We provide one-on-one lessons tailored to each child to teach him/her how to save themselves in the water until help can arrive. ISR is a national program with over 8 million ISR lessons taught to date (infantswim ), and hundreds of documented savings provide much more than anecdotal evidence of the efficacy of this program. Click here to read testimonials from some of our Boise ISR families.
It is critical that we have our own place to call home before another child is lost to drowning. Please consider donating to help save a child’s life.
How I Found ISR
My passion to be an Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) instructor started over 15 years ago when my son, Preston, was just 18 months old. We had recently moved to Idaho and one of the first things I noticed there is water EVERYWHERE: Irrigation canals, ponds, swimming pools, hot tubs, lakes, rivers, and streams, to name a few. They make Idaho a great place to live but I quickly learned it was also why the Gem State was in the top ranking of drownings of young children under the age of 4. You can imagine my heart skipped a thousand beats when I heard that and my mommy fears went on high alert, especially having an irrigation canal behind our home. We had a fence, but every parent knows that doesn’t stop a curious toddler from finding a way out, no matter how super vigilant my husband, myself, and other caretakers could be.
I started looking for swim programs to teach my little guy but, like many of you, I only knew about traditional swim lessons at the time. I didn’t look forward to putting him in a group setting because I knew Preston would cry – he was not a huge fan of the water and would throw a fit if he got his face wet in the bath. But I also knew he needed to be water safe and eventually learn to swim, so I prayed a lot and found a local rec center where his sister could take gymnastics while he took swim lessons.
We walked into the gym and that’s when I spied a swim brochure about Infant Swimming Resource. I read it and I was hooked. ISR lessons go way beyond traditional swimming instruction – they teach infants ages 6-12 months to roll to their back and float, and 13 month - 6 years old plus to swim-float-swim. This unique program was going to teach my son how to save himself in the water when no one else was around, not just how to blow bubbles and splash in a pool. It also gave our family peace of mind knowing that Preston would know what to do if he should find himself in the water alone.
I soon signed Preston up with his ISR instructor and this kid learned how to independently swim-float-swim within 8 weeks. Furthermore, Preston surprised us when he stopped crying after 3 days and learned to love and respect the water. It turned from him throwing fits about getting in the pool to throwing fits because he had to get out of the pool! Preston continued to stay in ISR lessons over the years, not only to reinforce his ISR aquatic water safe skills but to keep his love of the water alive, as well. This was the best financial investment of a lifetime. Preston turned from guppy into a fierce shark and still loves the water to this day.
Becoming a Certified ISR Instructor
After seeing what ISR had done for my son and my family, I knew I wanted to make a difference in the lives of other children and families in Idaho. I became an ISR instructor in 2005 and have been teaching lessons in the Treasure Valley for the past 15 years. I have been privileged to teach these life saving skills to over 1000 students to date, bond with many families, build a wonderful community, and support my own family financially. I can honestly say I have been blessed in so many ways and will forever be grateful for this calling as an ISR instructor and am so happy to share that with the world.
Boise ISR in 2020
This past year has been crazy for everybody due to COVID-19, and Boise ISR took a hard hit when Eagle Crunch had to shut down in spring 2020. Thankfully, we figured out a way to still have lessons in an outdoor pool provided by one of our ISR families until we were able to return to the gym last fall. We took another hard hit this past November, when Eagle Crunch decided to renovate their pools and lease out their facilities to a swim school, forcing us to find a new home for Boise ISR. Leaving that location on short notice after 10 years was rough but my loyal ISR families took it in stride and adjusted with me to make the change to the Boise Crunch on State Street. I’ve been incredibly grateful for the new venue but even that has a timeline since we’re sharing the pool with lap swimmers and another afternoon ISR instructor, which forces me to cut down to 6 hours per day vs my typical 8 and limits the number of families I can service.
A New Home for Boise ISR!
Knowing this couldn’t be a permanent location, the creative process began and an idea was born. ISR needs a home in Boise, and we want to build it! The goal is to find a property with an existing facility, or where a facility can be built, which has adequate space to house at least a 15’X30’ salt water pool, above ground if necessary but ideally in-ground. This size will allow me to continue to teach as many families as possible and offer space available to the 3 other trained ISR instructors, as warranted, or future trained ISR instructors maximizing the ISR mission that Not One More Child Drowns.
I can't do this alone and am asking for your help in contributing to my campaign, Help Coach Ann Build a home for ISR in Boise. With summer around the corner and more families getting out on the water, we want to move quickly with this effort. I need to raise roughly $100,000 to get an SBA loan secured and the process moving to secure and update/build a home for Boise ISR. This is not something I ask easily but I know it will help other families as I, and other ISR instructors have a secure, permanent place to continue providing the best ISR services to families who take the water safety of their children seriously. Your donation will literally SAVE MORE LIVES.
If you’re new to ISR and want to know why it’s so important to have this resource in our Boise community, we focus strictly on drowning prevention. We provide one-on-one lessons tailored to each child to teach him/her how to save themselves in the water until help can arrive. ISR is a national program with over 8 million ISR lessons taught to date (infantswim ), and hundreds of documented savings provide much more than anecdotal evidence of the efficacy of this program. Click here to read testimonials from some of our Boise ISR families.
It is critical that we have our own place to call home before another child is lost to drowning. Please consider donating to help save a child’s life.
How I Found ISR
My passion to be an Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) instructor started over 15 years ago when my son, Preston, was just 18 months old. We had recently moved to Idaho and one of the first things I noticed there is water EVERYWHERE: Irrigation canals, ponds, swimming pools, hot tubs, lakes, rivers, and streams, to name a few. They make Idaho a great place to live but I quickly learned it was also why the Gem State was in the top ranking of drownings of young children under the age of 4. You can imagine my heart skipped a thousand beats when I heard that and my mommy fears went on high alert, especially having an irrigation canal behind our home. We had a fence, but every parent knows that doesn’t stop a curious toddler from finding a way out, no matter how super vigilant my husband, myself, and other caretakers could be.
I started looking for swim programs to teach my little guy but, like many of you, I only knew about traditional swim lessons at the time. I didn’t look forward to putting him in a group setting because I knew Preston would cry – he was not a huge fan of the water and would throw a fit if he got his face wet in the bath. But I also knew he needed to be water safe and eventually learn to swim, so I prayed a lot and found a local rec center where his sister could take gymnastics while he took swim lessons.
We walked into the gym and that’s when I spied a swim brochure about Infant Swimming Resource. I read it and I was hooked. ISR lessons go way beyond traditional swimming instruction – they teach infants ages 6-12 months to roll to their back and float, and 13 month - 6 years old plus to swim-float-swim. This unique program was going to teach my son how to save himself in the water when no one else was around, not just how to blow bubbles and splash in a pool. It also gave our family peace of mind knowing that Preston would know what to do if he should find himself in the water alone.
I soon signed Preston up with his ISR instructor and this kid learned how to independently swim-float-swim within 8 weeks. Furthermore, Preston surprised us when he stopped crying after 3 days and learned to love and respect the water. It turned from him throwing fits about getting in the pool to throwing fits because he had to get out of the pool! Preston continued to stay in ISR lessons over the years, not only to reinforce his ISR aquatic water safe skills but to keep his love of the water alive, as well. This was the best financial investment of a lifetime. Preston turned from guppy into a fierce shark and still loves the water to this day.
Becoming a Certified ISR Instructor
After seeing what ISR had done for my son and my family, I knew I wanted to make a difference in the lives of other children and families in Idaho. I became an ISR instructor in 2005 and have been teaching lessons in the Treasure Valley for the past 15 years. I have been privileged to teach these life saving skills to over 1000 students to date, bond with many families, build a wonderful community, and support my own family financially. I can honestly say I have been blessed in so many ways and will forever be grateful for this calling as an ISR instructor and am so happy to share that with the world.
Boise ISR in 2020
This past year has been crazy for everybody due to COVID-19, and Boise ISR took a hard hit when Eagle Crunch had to shut down in spring 2020. Thankfully, we figured out a way to still have lessons in an outdoor pool provided by one of our ISR families until we were able to return to the gym last fall. We took another hard hit this past November, when Eagle Crunch decided to renovate their pools and lease out their facilities to a swim school, forcing us to find a new home for Boise ISR. Leaving that location on short notice after 10 years was rough but my loyal ISR families took it in stride and adjusted with me to make the change to the Boise Crunch on State Street. I’ve been incredibly grateful for the new venue but even that has a timeline since we’re sharing the pool with lap swimmers and another afternoon ISR instructor, which forces me to cut down to 6 hours per day vs my typical 8 and limits the number of families I can service.
A New Home for Boise ISR!
Knowing this couldn’t be a permanent location, the creative process began and an idea was born. ISR needs a home in Boise, and we want to build it! The goal is to find a property with an existing facility, or where a facility can be built, which has adequate space to house at least a 15’X30’ salt water pool, above ground if necessary but ideally in-ground. This size will allow me to continue to teach as many families as possible and offer space available to the 3 other trained ISR instructors, as warranted, or future trained ISR instructors maximizing the ISR mission that Not One More Child Drowns.
I can't do this alone and am asking for your help in contributing to my campaign, Help Coach Ann Build a home for ISR in Boise. With summer around the corner and more families getting out on the water, we want to move quickly with this effort. I need to raise roughly $100,000 to get an SBA loan secured and the process moving to secure and update/build a home for Boise ISR. This is not something I ask easily but I know it will help other families as I, and other ISR instructors have a secure, permanent place to continue providing the best ISR services to families who take the water safety of their children seriously. Your donation will literally SAVE MORE LIVES.
Organizer
Ann Moore
Organizer
Eagle, ID
