Connor Cares Foundation funds drown-proofing scholarship
By HEATHER ROTH Staff writer
The Capital Gazette
Published February 03, 2009

Connor Freed was 5 years old and had just graduated from Crofton Meadows kindergarten when he drowned under an empty lifeguard chair in the pool at the Crofton Country Club.

Now, two and a half years later, his parents are fighting to protect other children from sharing his fate.

"(Drowning) is the second-leading cause of death for kids, and it's so easy to fix," said Thomas Freed, Connor's father. "We just want to get as big as we can, save as many children as we can."

The Connor Cares Foundation, dedicated to implementing life-guard standards for public pools and supporting drowning-prevention programs, recently donated a $500 scholarship to Arlington Echo's drown-proofing program.

"We just hope it's a starting point," Freed said. "It seems like a really, really good program."

The drown-proofing program is an elective county school program for fifth-grade students.

It includes classwork in correlation with the language arts curriculum, and four hours of in-pool instruction by a certified teachers.

Classes focus on safety themes such as surviving in cold water or floating techniques.

"It's exciting that (the Connor Cares Foundation) was able to make the contact with us and we've formed this partnership,'' said Cathy Bellarin, a teacher specialist in outdoor education at Arlington Echo.

"(The scholarship) lessens the burden on some of the families - you don't want a child to not learn how to swim," she said.

To participate in the program, children must have proper swim-wear and pay one of two fees, depending on the family's economic situation.

But even the smaller fee is too much for some families, Bellarin said. And some children come without swim-wear.

"It's helping that more needy child, maybe they outgrew last year's (swimsuit) and can't afford a new one."

Often teachers pay the fees out of pocket or a school's PTA will cover them. But when no one steps forward, the new scholarship will make the classes possible.

Bellarin has already been able to welcome a girl who couldn't afford the fee, thanks to the scholarship. "That's pretty nice to be able to do that," she said.

It's through helping other children that Freed and his wife, Debbie, find some measure of comfort after the loss of their son.

"It's healing for me to start this foundation and work," Debbie Freed said. "That summer there were so many drownings."

The couple began the Connor Cares Foundation in the months after Connor's death.

"We were trying to build a foundation for pool safety," Thomas Freed said. "I'll never have a son again - all those things that are gone - are gone because of carelessness."

When Connor drowned, he was found floating just feet from an empty lifeguard chair, his parents said.

"He would be here if there was a lifeguard in that chair," Debbie Freed said.

In the past two years, the Foundation has worked with Del. James King, R-Gambrills, to pass a law mandating that two lifeguards always be on duty for any pool over 2,500 square feet.

"We just need some sort of unanimity (in standards)," Thomas Freed said.

A former lifeguard himself, he had always assumed that there were some sort of standards in place. After Connor died, he learned that it is up to the discretion of pool companies how many lifeguards are on duty.

Without guidelines, parents may not realize they are allowing their children to swim at a barely-attended pool, he said, a recipe for disaster.

"Something did happen, and it's going to happen again," he said.

The Freeds have also successfully sued the pool company for negligence and are pursuing a conscious pain and suffering judgment in higher courts, hoping to force pool companies to take safety more seriously.

"It will be something to hang our hats on, so he didn't die in vain," Thomas Freed said.

The $1 million dollars awarded to them in the negligence conviction will be gone long before their court battles are over, Thomas Freed said. "It's going to get a precedent setting case on the books."

In the months following Connor's death, Debbie Freed quit her real estate job and started the Connor Cares Foundation. Their first fundraising event was a 5K run in October.

"We had a really good turnout for our first one," she said. About 250 people turned out for the event, and now Debbie is working on new events.

"My goal is to plan at least three events a year," she said.

She hopes to continue funding the scholarship at Arlington Echo's drown-proofing programs, and add new programs to fund.

"It helps," Thomas Freed said.