The Hunter Boyle Children’s Swim Program is holding a gala in Shepparton to raise funds for its life-saving work towards preventing drownings.
The charity was launched in 2021 by Ash Napolitano and Matt Boyle in honour of their two-year-old son Hunter, who drowned in a dam the previous year.
“As we’ve always said, we just want to stop this happening to other families,” Ms Napolitano said.
“We’ll continue to do this for as long as possibly can and we just hope we’re making some sort of impact.”
The program has so far put 13 children through swimming lessons and helped four people get qualified and employed as swim teachers through Aquamoves.
“We’re also about to start funding lessons for members of our cultural and linguistically diverse community, so parents and their children who may not have a good understanding of water safety,” Ms Napolitano said.
The program’s success is bittersweet for Hunter’s parents, with the foundation arising from heartbreak for the family.
“If we can’t have Hunter here with us then we want to make sure something good comes out of his memory and his little life,” Ms Napolitano said.
So far this summer there have been 53 drowning deaths reported in Australia, according to the Royal Life Saving Summer Drowning Toll.
“We’re really trying to spread the message of water safety; over Christmas every single day on the news you were hearing about people drowning,” Ms Napolitano said.
“It’s horrible that so many more families are impacted – we just need to be more careful, more vigilant and we need to supervise better.”
The Night Night Moon gala ball is being held at the GV Hotel on Saturday, April 15 from 6.30pm.
Tickets are $150 and include a three-course meal and drinks package, with entertainment and an auction on the night, and all proceeds going to the swim program.
For information about tickets, corporate tables, sponsorship packages or donations to the auction visit The Hunter Boyle Children’s Swim Program Facebook page or TryBooking at tinyurl.com/huntergala