RCF featured in the Indianapolis Business Journal

The Indianapolis Business Journal featured the Riviera Club Foundation in their recent article “Leaving a legacy: USA Swimming, Indiana Sports Corp. dedicate $400K to teaching kids to swim” available online and in print. You must be a subscriber to read the piece, but here’s an excerpt about our role in the legacy projects for the upcoming Olympic Swim Trials:

“The Riviera Club Foundation, which was founded in 2019 by Riviera Club members who wanted to see the exclusive club leverage its resources to give back to the community, has so far guided 186 students through the Swim IN Safety program in partnership with the Martin Luther King Community Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana, Indianapolis Public Schools and other organizations.

Rachel Head, director of programs, said the foundation’s goal is to offer free programming to those who have the highest risk of drowning—or who have the least access to opportunities to learn how to swim. She said it has been eye-opening to watch kids go from clinging to swim instructors to confidently swimming the length of the club pool.

“There is too little access to opportunities to learn how to swim for those who can’t afford them,” said Danielle Wolfe, The Riviera Club Foundation’s executive director. “And we know there is pretty significant risk for those individuals who don’t have those basic water-safety skills to get into a difficult situation. We believe there is an opportunity to put an end to preventable drownings, and we’re going to do everything we can to see that goal come to fruition.”

The Riviera Club Foundation is also working on the second part of the legacy programming—training IPS middle-school students to swim. The Riviera Club and Indiana University Natatorium have been hosting lessons for Northwest and Harshman middle schoolers since the beginning of the school year with the idea of helping IPS build its high school swim teams.”