By Liz McBreen
On August 16, the Echo Park Swim Team, an athletic club to which Crawford belongs, held a Swim-A-Thon. Team members were sponsored, and all of the proceeds that were collected went to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in hopes that a cure will be found.
This fund-raiser marks the first of its kind in the Town of Hempstead. According to Kaycee's mother, Maryann, "Some other mothers and I were sitting around the pool one day, and we thought this would be a good idea. Kaycee wasn't able to swim for a while this summer because of some health problems resulting from the diabetes, so we thought it would be a good time to do this."
About 50 of the 75 team members came out on Friday to swim for a cure. The swimmers range in age from 6 to 16, and each lap that they swam was matched by an amount of money agreed on by their sponsor. Each swimmer was sponsored more than once, resulting in about 300 sponsors, according to Kaycee's father Bill Crawford.
Kaycee is going into the fourth grade in September at St. Thomas the Apostle school in West Hempstead. "She is very independent. She does her own finger pokes every day, but she is always supervised by an adult," said her mother. "She used to take insulin shots every day, but now she wears the pump."
Kaycee's team mates came out on Friday because it was for a good cause, and because many of them have known her for years. A close-knit community has been created through the swim team. Thirteen-year-old Katie Henne has been on the team for three years. She also attends St. Thomas the Apostle. "I have known Kaycee since she was little. My brother is her brother's best friend."
Kaila Slattery joined the West Hempstead team this year. She lives in Oceanside and used to swim in Freeport. She began swimming at Echo Park last winter. "I like this pool. The people are nice and this is a good team." Slattery herself raised $126.
The Town approved the fund-raiser about ten days before it took place. Crawford and her friend and fellow swim team mom Patty Henne credited Rich Guardino and Joe Kearney for making the swim-a-thon a reality.
Kristen Zimmerman, with the help of assistant coach Terrence McCormick, coaches the team. "Some mothers of the team members thought this would be a great idea. It's for a good cause, and it gets the kids involved community service," said Zimmerman. Both coaches live in Merrick and work for the Town of Hempstead.
As certificates of participation and raffle prizes were handed out, Kaycee thanked her team mates for making this effort to raise money for this important cause. The swim-a-thon raised $2,326.50, all of which will go to JDRF.
