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Pepper Money Real Life Stories: MCCI swim classes teach lifelong skills

01 Apr
7 mins read
The Illawarra Hawks' commitment to the community has been on show all season, through its amazing Pepper Money Real Life Stories program.  Following in the footsteps of its work with Clontarf, Healthy Cities Illawarra and Jammers, the Hawks recently headed to the Beaton Park Leisure Centre to assist with the Multicultural Communities Council of Illawarra (MCCI) water safety programs. 

The Illawarra Hawks' commitment to the community has been on show all season, through its amazing Pepper Money Real Life Stories program. 

Following in the footsteps of its work with Clontarf, Healthy Cities Illawarra and Jammers, the Hawks recently headed to the Beaton Park Leisure Centre to assist with the Multicultural Communities Council of Illawarra (MCCI) water safety programs. 

These water safety programs have been running for more than 10 years and cater for migrant communities and newly arrived people from refugee backgrounds.

"This program includes regular community education sessions that incorporate water safety components and CPR practices to build the capacity and raise awareness of what constitutes safe practices when swimming at the beach or swimming pools," MCCI youth development worker Steve Hancox said. 

"The session is culturally appropriate and facilitated in a way that meets the needs of the community. 

"In the last five years, MCCI has extended this to include swimming lessons as this has been identified as a high need in the community.? 

"In collaboration with other community organisations, we have delivered swimming lessons to over 130 young people from migrant backgrounds." 

"With the cost associated with learning to swim, many multicultural residents of the Illawarra simply just have to go without," Hancox said. 

As part of the program, Pepper Money and the Hawks will collectively contribute $1,000 to the program.

“10 students in the Illawarra are given the opportunity to learn how to swim,” Hancox said.

“By removing the financial barrier to access swimming lessons, these students will be supported by MCCI youth workers who also understand the cultural barriers that may also prevent them to access such programs."  

Programs like this are more important than ever according to Hancox.  

"Unfortunately, the latest surf lifesaving coastal safety report showed that 48 per cent of the people who drowned in NSW were born overseas," he said. 

"Programs like this aim to provide participants with the skills and the knowledge to be able to enjoy the beautiful beaches and pools the Illawarra has to offer in a safe way. 

"This program has enabled us to strengthen our relationships and partnerships with the Illawarra Hawks, Wollongong City Council, Royal Life Saving, NSW Office of Sport, Northern Stars and Beaton Park. 

“These strong collaborations will allow us to continue these programs and to effectively support our migrant communities in the region. " 

These sentiments, about how beneficial the program is, were echoed by Hawks community engagement officer Tim Coenraad. 

“Having MCCI come onboard as a recipient of the Pepper Money Real Life Stories grant, really diversifies the areas in which their generosity is spread," Coenraad said. 

"MCCI provides a voice and leadership for culturally and linguistically diverse communities. 

"Many of their programs are based on providing a sense of belonging for those who are out of their home country, but also providing programs that are aimed at developing the skills required to flourish in our beautiful country. 

“After working with MCCI and seeing the tremendous work they are doing in the community it was an easy choice for both the Illawarra Hawks and Pepper Money to help see these programs continue and become stronger.” 

Pepper Money’s head of brand and sponsorships David Berry also highlighted the strength of the partnership to deliver meaningful outcomes for the community.  

“Working together with the Illawarra Hawks to deliver the Pepper Money Real Life Stories program is a practical way to make a real-life difference to the culturally and linguistically diverse community in the Illawarra,” Berry said.

“We continue to make it our mission to help people succeed by supporting community programs that change people's lives for the better.”  

If you would like to support the MCCI swim program, please visit here.

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