Drowning is the number one cause of death for children between the ages of 1-4 and number 3 for children 5-19 in the USA. It is silent, fast (a child can drown in 30 seconds) and doesn't look like what most people expect it to. After Judah's drowning was when his dad and I found this out. He was on life support when we learned these things. It was too late for him. We were careful parents who kept his safety first, always. We knew that if it could happen to our family, it could happen to anyone. We knew that if we hadn't been taught about water safety, chances were high that other parents weren't being taught either. We were all just guessing at what was safe and what wasn't. Judah's preschool teacher started JBP at a time when my husband and I were just learning to survive each day and she did so with our request in mind, to not let this happen to other children...to other parents. When I got stronger, I joined her in the fight and now we work side by side to save little lives, in honor of Judah. We partner with pediatricians across the nation and the world to get water safety information pamphlets out to the families that they see. These pamphlets are currently in over 450 doctors offices and that number grows weekly. We partner with individuals and organizations who want to help us to save little lives, by giving the funds needed to secure scholarships for survival swim ( for kids 6 and under) and traditional swimming lessons with emphasis on survival skills (for kids 6 +). We give these scholarships to families who just can't afford lessons. We believe that learning to swim is a life necessity, not just a sport, and it should be a right to be able to save your own life, not a privilege of those who have means. We partner with survival swim instructors and traditional swim instructors across the world to help families find the lessons closest to them and that are right for them. We host low to no cost CPR classes for anyone 8 years old or older, in the Houston area. We previously went into the schools to teach our "Water Smart" curriculum to children ages 3-18. We have different trainings for the different age levels. We are currently in 10 school districts in the Houston area and have now adapted our curriculum to be available fully online and free, so that we can reach even more children. We honor children who have passed away from drowning and those who have had non-fatal drownings and we support their families through their grief. We remember their birthdays every year, to let these families know that their children have not been forgotten. We provide bereavement resources and help families navigate the grief process. We honor close to 200 families this way, at the time of this writing. We work in collaboration with other water safety organizations and are involved with educating influencers and lawmakers about the hidden dangers of drowning, to help get much needed protections in place to better prevent it from happening. In 2021 we worked with the Texas state legislature to pass the Judah Brown Drowning prevention Act (which is housed under HB1588), which stops homeowners associations from being able to tell homeowners that they can't put up safety fences around their pools. This bill has already been used at least 5 times (at the time of this writing, that we are aware of) to allow homeowners to protect their children by installing a pool safety fence around their pool. This is one baby step in the right direction. We will continue to educate and advocate until laws are passed to mandate that all new pool builds must have safety fences and other barriers in place that will stop children from having free or easy access to the water. How can you help? Learn-Read and share our social media (Facebook, Instagram and TikTok) and our website (judahbrownproject.org). They are resources we created to help you learn the dangers of drowning, the reality of it and how to prevent it. Share-Share this information with people you know who have children. It could save a life! Help us get our water safety information to doctors and schools in your area. Give-Give of your time or help us financially, so that we can continue our mission to save little lives! It is only through generous donations from people like you that we can offer the materials and supports needed to make a difference in the lives of the families we serve. If you would like to make a donation, you can do so here: https://judahbrownproject.org/donate/
Judah Brown Project is a 501c3 charity and all donations are tax deductible. Help us stop drowning from being the number one killer of our kids and help us save little lives!!
