Children at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Providence’s North Providence and Wanskuck Early Years Learning Centers received swim lessons this summer – and the fun will continue for an additional six weeks in the fall.Over the course of six weeks throughout the summer months, approximately 17 children, ages 4 to 6, received swim lessons for one hour on Friday afternoons.Boys & Girls Clubs of Providence Program Manager, Dennis Crowe, who is a certified life guard trained through the American Red Cross instructed the children in the basics of swimming, water safety, and breathing techniques. The swim instructions took place at both the Fox Point Clubhouses and Wanskuck Clubhouses.

Drowning is the second-leading cause of accidental death for children under five in the United States.The Boys & Girls Clubs of Providence will continue the swim program in the fall as a way to keep children safe around water.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Providence is the oldest Boys & Girls Club in the nation and the largest in Rhode Island.Five facilities in Providence and North Providence house state-of-the-art computer labs, swimming pools, and gymnasiums as well as nationally accredited and licensed preschools and kindergartens.Over 8,000 children and youth receive homework help, computer and Internet safety instruction, swim lessons, job/career development and training, organized athletic leagues, environmental outdoor education, and visual arts.For more information about the Boys & Girls Clubs of Providence, please contact Melissa Dick at 401/444-0750, ext. 108.