Community swimming for success
By ROBERT LINNEHAN
The Cherry Hill Sun
8/28/2009

Two local advocacy groups for special education students are teaming together to honor the victims of 9/11 and to benefit special education programs in the Cherry Hill and Voorhees school districts.

Voorhees Special needs Parents, Educators And Kids and the Cherry Hill Special Education Parent Teacher Association are hosting the first “Swim For Success” event on Friday, Sept. 11, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Fox Hollow Swim Club in Cherry Hill. A rain date has been announced for Saturday, Sept. 12.

Tickets are $2 per swimmer and $5 per family. All funds go to the two groups for additional programming for special needs students in the communities.

Sponsorships are still needed, as well as donations for a silent auction. Swimmers looking to participate are also asked to bring in pledges from the community to help support SPEAK and SEPTA as well.

Voorhees SPEAK, a parent-faculty association in the Voorhees School district, was approved by the board of education in March to help raise awareness about special needs children in the district. The organization teamed with Cherry Hill SEPTA, a group that works with parents, teachers and administrators to provide appropriate education for all children with special needs.

The two special needs advocacy groups are excited about the event and are billing it as the last swim meet of the summer season, said Linda Harowitz, co-chair of SPEAK.

It will be a great event, she said, and one that hopefully raises additional funding for the two groups for some new programming for special education students.

It will feature an opening that pays tribute to the lives lost on 9/11 and the first responders who risked their lives to save as many people as they could during the attacks.

“9/11 is a fitting day for the event because it’s all about celebrating what’s great about our country, our freedom and our equality. This is a celebration of people with disabilities being on the same ground for the common cause as their peers,” she said. “It’s all fitting for the theme of the event. We want everyone to come out and show their support for everyone in their communities.”

Pool time will be split up into different periods of swimming ability, Harowitz said. The club will do anything it can to accommodate visitors looking to swim in the pool.

DJ Alex Erlam will be playing during the entire day’s event and a snack bar will be selling food as well, she said.

Swim clubs can also sign up for several relays that will be held during the day, including a 10-person, mixed gender and mixed age freestyle race. A family relay will also be held, she said. The 10- person relay will cost $20 per team and the family relay costs $8 per team.

Swimmers looking to participate can still request pledge sheets, Harowitz said. All necessary forms can be downloaded at the SPEAK Web site at home.comcast.net/~s.p.e.a.k/site/?/home.

“This is groundbreaking for our two parental groups to work side-by- side for a common goal. It’s just been wonderful, and hopefully the beginning of a nice collaboration between our groups to bring more programming and activity for the kids,” she said.

For additional information, please contact Harowitz at LHarowitz@comcast.net or Joan Figurelle of SEPTA at 1234Figs@comcast.net.