DRIPPING SPRINGS — Drowning is the number one cause of death for children ages 1 to 4 years old and it’s the second leading cause of unintentional injury death behind motor vehicle crashes, according to the American Red Cross. Because of this data, Pool Scouts of Texas Hill Country and the Hope Floats Foundation are stepping up and partnering to provide eligible families with free swimming lessons.

Co-owned by cousins Hillary Burris and Phillip Benedek, Pool Scouts of Texas Hill Country, a segment of a larger franchise, opened more than two years ago and services all of Hays County, as well as New Braunfels, parts of north San Antonio and south Austin.

“Pool Scouts is a national franchise. We purchased into two territories here in Central Texas. There are a few other surrounding territories around us, as well,” Burris said. “What really makes Pool Scouts stand out compared to the other pool companies is just our commitment to quality, starting down to our team, we kind of fill in those gaps and pain points that other whole companies might be missing, as far as the priority to hire experienced [technicians] and we also kind of set ourselves apart with ongoing, continuous training.”

The company offers various services to meet their clients’ needs, whether that’s pool cleaning, above-ground maintenance or renovations; if there is a service that a client wants that is outside of Pool Scouts’ scope, they work with trusted partners to refer them if they choose to go that route, Burris explained.

As May is Water Safety Month, Pool Scouts of Texas Hill Country is partnering with the Hope Floats Foundation to donate more than 1,500 swim lessons for children in low income families.

Hope Floats, a national nonprofit organization, was founded in 2016 by swim school owners in Virginia who had a heart for the mission of drowning prevention, and believed every child deserves the chance to learn to swim, but wanted a solution to provide more swimming lesson scholarships in a scalable way, according to director Kristin Mabrouk. Currently, the foundation works in communities across the country, with 40 states total, and the support has grown in Texas over the past two years.

Since 2021, Pool Scouts has raised $82,000 for Hope Floats and, this year, the brand is setting that bar higher with a $20,000 fundraising goal to push the total donations to more than $100,000. The fundraising helps families acquire scholarships for their children to be able to have swimming lessons, which are shown to reduce the risk of drowning by up to 88%, said Mabrouk.

The funding received from Pool Scouts goes right into what Hope Floats refers to as a “scholarship bucket” to be used solely for swim scholarships in the region: “If we have any families on our waiting list, we can get them in the pool right away, which is so exciting. This year, we are especially grateful because Step into Swim, the charitable initiative of the Pool & Hot Tub Foundation, will be matching up to $20,000 raised in the Pool Scouts fundraiser nationwide, which means donor dollars are doubled and we can help twice as many kids get swimming.”

Pool safety is at the heart of what Pool Scouts does, according to director of marketing Lynlea Rudell, and the franchise wanted to go beyond maintenance to make a deeper impact. Hope Floats’ mission aligns with Pool Scouts’ values — those nationally and locally — and the partnership paves the way to promote water safety, while also giving back to the community, Rudell said.

At the local level, Burris shared that they also support the mission as drowning can happen within a matter of seconds and they want to help reduce that risk.

“The way we do that, obviously, is through swimming lessons. Not everyone has access to swimming lessons for one reason or another, so we realize it’s essential for children to have access to this and to be able to be safe around water,” Burris said. “You could take your eye off a child for 15 seconds and it could already be too late … It’s really an essential skill for a child to learn, but it shouldn’t be limited only to children that can afford [lessons].”

According to Burris, Pool Scouts will donate $1 of every pool service during the month of May to Hope Floats to help fund scholarships and tuition assistance for swimming lessons.

“Even if someone isn’t a pool owner, they can directly donate to Hope Floats and it will go towards their local community,” Burris explained. “It’s just one of those kind of easy, but very impactful, ways to contribute.”

All of the scholarships are based on financial need using a standardized criteria. When families apply on the Hope Floats website, they can select the swim school that is closest to them from the drop-down list of partners in the application or they can add the name of the swim school they would like to use and Hope Floats will contact them if they are interested in becoming a partner.

To learn more, donate or apply for a scholarship to the Hope Floats Foundation, visit www.hopefloats.foundation. More information about Pool Scouts of Texas Hill Country can be found at www.poolscouts.com/texashillcountry.