ST INS CARES-Florida Drowning Prevention Foundation-Water Safety That Saves Lives

Drowning is one of those risks people underestimate until it hits close to home, and in Florida, water is everywhere. I’m Gail Langner with State Insurance Cares, and I sat down with Terri Ballo, president of the Florida Drowning Prevention Foundation, to talk about what actually prevents child drowning and why “it only takes a second” is not just a saying. Terry shares the heartbreaking moment that pushed her to take action, and how that personal turning point became a statewide mission built on education, access, and community support.

We get practical about water safety for families, grandparents, and anyone with a pool, canal, or beach nearby. Terri breaks down the “layers of protection” that save lives: constant supervision, swim lessons, barriers like pool fences, door alarms that alert you when a child slips outside, and CPR skills that buy precious time in an emergency. We also talk about how quickly kids can move, why drowning is often silent, and how easy it is for adults at gatherings to assume someone else is watching.

A big focus is access. The Florida Drowning Prevention Foundation provides swim lesson scholarships for families across the state, including many who do not qualify for state vouchers but still struggle to afford lessons. Terri explains where lessons happen through certified swim schools, how the scholarship model works, and how partnerships with HOAs and property managers can expand water safety education and equipment at community pools. If you care about drowning prevention, swim lessons, and pool safety in Southwest Florida and beyond, this conversation gives you clear next steps. Subscribe, share this with a parent or grandparent, and leave a review so more families can find it.

Florida Drowning Prevention Foundation
Terri Ballo
(239) 919-2001
2670 Horseshoe Dr. N. Ste 203 Naples, FL 34104
fldpf.org

State Insurance USA
4450 Camino Real Way
Ft Myers, FL 33966
239-567-9992
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Transcript

Welcome To The Podcast

Intro/Close 0:00

Welcome to State Insurance USA Cares Podcast, where we celebrate the heart of our communities. Each episode, we highlight local charities and nonprofits who are bringing hope, help, and healing to those who need it most. Get ready to be inspired by the amazing stories of people making a difference. Because together, we care.

Why Water Safety Matters In Florida

Gail Langner 0:19

Well, hello, it is Gail Langner, and I'm with State Insurance Cares. Um, living in Southwest Florida, we're surrounded by water, by pools and canals and lakes and beaches and the gulf. And while our beautiful weather and outside is great, it's what makes Florida special for sure. It also makes water incredibly important, uh, safety, for sure. Today I'm with my new friend president Terri Ballo of the Florida Drowning Prevention Foundation. And they are an organization dedicated to educating families and promoting water safety. And Terri, I'm so excited you could be on our podcast today. Thank you so much for joining.

Terri Ballo 1:04

Thank you, Gail.

Gail Langner 1:05

I'm excited to be here today. Well, when I was getting to know you, uh one of the questions that I asked you was, How, what brought you to the Florida Drowning Prevention Foundation? How and you started it, right? Yes. Your your creation. Yes. Tell tell our listeners what happened, your personal story.

The Loss That Started A Mission

Terri Ballo 1:24

Sure. Well, I was living on Marco Island. I moved there in 1994. Um, and in 1999, my daughter was three and a half, and I knew this little girl who was two and a half, so they were close in age, and she had been at um an assisted living facility pool party. Her mom was a nurse there, and so they had families who went to this pool party, and she had had the water wings on her arms, and so you know, the kids are fine when they have them on. Um, the mom was leaving people, saying goodbye to people, and she had had taken the water wings off and left her with a friend who was there and asked her to watch Madison. Well, when she came back into the house after saying goodbye to people, Madison was missing. And so everyone who was there went scrambling and looking for her, and sadly she was in the bottom of the pool. So we all went, we you know, had plenty of friends there, and we all went to her funeral, which was absolutely horrific. Yes. And having a child who was very close in age, you know, it really hits home when you experience something like that. So at that point, that was 1999, I said to myself, I need to do something about this because no family should have to suffer this loss that is 100% pre-preventable.

Gail Langner 2:55

Right.

From Kiwanis Project To Foundation

Terri Ballo 2:56

So um it was a you know, a little bit of time. It was 2015 when we began a Kwanis club. And it was me, my husband, and two of our friends who are currently on our board, Chris and Chuck. And the four of us said, let's start a Kwanis club. And I said, I wanted to make our main goal to prevent drowning. Um, it came full circle, and I said, now I have the opportunity that we can really make a difference. So we did. And for five years, we worked at uh the Kiwanis Club and working to pay for swim lessons. We started buying door alarms, and we didn't get out as much with um making presentations, but we were still out in the community and people were starting to get to know us, which was terrific. And we were paying for a decent amount of kids to learn to swim. The demand was getting so great that we said, you know, I think maybe we should start our own foundation. And I think this is the way we're really going to make the impact. And so the four of us agreed, and we started Florida Drowning Prevention Foundation in June of 2020. And so since we began that, the foundation has really taken off because now we're just focused on drowning prevention. We all did join other koanis clubs because we love Koanis as well. Um, but we we decided just to have this separate 501c3.

Gail Langner 4:38

Tell

Layers Of Protection At Home

Gail Langner 4:39

me, you were talking about door alarms and things of that nature without me having small children any longer, and my grandchildren are also grown. That it doesn't, that isn't even in I'm not even thinking of that. Tell me some of the things that that can help, you know, parents and grandparents to to help with this.

Terri Ballo 4:59

Yes. Well, we have a um 18-month-old granddaughter who just started walking. And uh, well, she started walking a few months ago, but she's been uh flying around the house.

Gail Langner 5:12

I was gonna say not walking, running, walking.

Terri Ballo 5:16

And uh we're chasing her all over the place. So my um my thought process is, and as I watch her, she's tall and she can actually reach the handle of the sliding glass door. And I don't think a lot of people give babies enough credit as to what they can actually do.

Gail Langner 5:36

Right.

Terri Ballo 5:36

So for us, we have the door alarms that we actually give to families for free. Um, we have them on our sliding glass doors. And so when the grandchildren are over, we have others as well. When the grandchildren are over, we turn them on and we make sure that's the first thing we do because at our age, and you're right, as grandparents, we don't have baby fences up anymore.

Gail Langner 6:03

Right.

Terri Ballo 6:03

Um, the children don't live with us, so we don't have the baby fences, but we have to number one supervise. That is the most important portion of this is supervision. Secondly, is um swim lessons, third would be baby pool fence, door alarm, uh knowing CPR. They're all layers of protection. And even though we they are not our children, as grandparents, we have to be just as diligent as their parents. Absolutely. Yes, we have to be because the kids are fast and they're drawn to water. Um, and it happens in seconds and it's silent.

Swim Scholarships And Who They Help

Terri Ballo 6:46

So, what we do at Florida Drowning Prevention is we provide scholarships for children to learn to swim. Um already this year in 2026, we've paid for 192 children to learn to swim. That's great. Yeah, it's it's really I get swim scholarship applications every single day in my email. And um, about every two to three weeks, we approve swim scholarships. So, to date, since 2015, since we began, we've uh just gone over the 2000 mark. So we've approved over 2,000 swim scholarship applications. Um, I would say 80% are in Collier and Lee counties, and then the remaining 20% are all over the state. Um, my husband and I just visited a swim school up in Panama City, and uh she's a terrific young lady, and she has been referring people to us. And you know, we hit a lot of lower-income families, but also middle class families. So we, you know, we have the state voucher system, but you have to be within a certain percentage of the poverty line. Um, and what we do is we I think we really fill that niche of people who can't get the voucher um but don't know where else to get help uh to pay for swim lessons.

Where Lessons Happen And Costs

Gail Langner 8:14

And then I'm sorry, Terry, go ahead with what you were saying. Where do they take their lessons? Like when I learned to swim, we moved to a lake when I was a little kid, and so that was the first, and I didn't know how to swim because we lived in the city before that. And um, I went to the Y. That's where I took my swim lessons. Where to around here in Southwest, where can they get swim lessons?

Terri Ballo 8:34

Well, what we work a lot with Safe Splash Swim School. Okay, they're terrific, and they're it's an indoor pool, and they're in the LA fitness centers. So in Naples, uh, they would go to the Vanderbilt Beach Road and 41. There's an LA Fitness There. In Fort Myers, they would go to Gulf Coast Town Center Mall. That that's where the LA Fitness is there. In Cape Coral, uh, they would also go to the LA Fitness There in Cape Coral. Uh, they also just opened one in Lakeland and they've opened two in Orlando. We work with, you know, outside of this area, we work um with many other swim schools, private swim schools who are certified. Um, the YMCAs, they have their own programs. So they, you know, they either have members or non-members, but they also get their own funding that they use. So they don't really, we don't really work with too many YMCAs. Sure. Um, and then a lot of them want you to physically be there to give the credit card, et cetera. So some sometimes we have some logistic issues, but for the most part, we have uh wonderful uh working relationships with many of the swim schools throughout the state. Here um with Safe Splash, they discount their swim lessons, first of all, for us. And then uh second of all, we pay $210 and the family pays $40, and that is for eight 30-minute lessons. Um for the most part, they get one swim scholarship from us. If they are younger than five and they really can't get those self-rescue techniques, then we will approve a second scholarship. But that has to, you know, the parent has to say, okay, yes, we want another one. The swim instructor will uh, you know, test them and see what they can do, and then they let me know. And then if we feel they need another one, then we'll pay one more time.

Reaching HOAs Resorts And Communities

Gail Langner 10:40

You know, I'm um I'm on the board of the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce, and I'm thinking of the resorts that have pools up and down the coast. Um, are they do you educate them in any way? I, you know, or how would you even reach all of them?

Terri Ballo 10:56

That would seem like almost an impossibility. It is just about. But that's why we work with people like you and we try to get onto Comcast, uh Comcasts, podcasts. I'm sorry. We try to get onto podcasts, and that and that uh helps us reach more people. We just did a podcast with uh Newell Property Management. Um, we're happy to do that with any uh property management companies if they would like us to. Um Adoni Coquinos, he owns Newell Property Management, and he just had Rich and I on. And that was awesome because we were able to get out to 210 homeowner associations. And he's wonderful, yes, it is, and he's already gotten requests to put AED um equipment at the pools. There have been several uh homeowner associations that want them, so that's awesome. So the more we get out, we do presentations. Um, you know, we have Facebook, Instagram, and so we we try to get out through social media as well.

Gail Langner 12:05

So

How To Donate And Get Help

Gail Langner 12:06

before we go, um I do want obviously you you can donate on your website, right? Yes.

Terri Ballo 12:12

Okay, what is what is your website before we it's www.fldpf.org. So or Florida Drowning Prevention Foundation.org. Okay. And then a phone number to reach you, would that be agreeable as well? 239-919-2001.

unknown 12:35

Okay.

Gail Langner 12:36

Yeah. I I know before we go, you have the Aqua Ball coming up. I'm so excited about that in Naples. Explain to our listeners what that is, when it is, and so on, if you would, please.

Terri Ballo 12:48

Sure. We have

Aqua Ball Fundraiser Details

Terri Ballo 12:49

our annual fundraiser, Aqua Ball. It is a dance party. And uh while we know that drowning is a very heavy subject, we make our fundraiser fun. Um we educate people at the same time, they understand all about it when they come to Aquaball. Uh, it is Saturday, September 26th at the Vineyards Country Club in Naples, and it's from 5:30 to 9.30 p.m. This year. We have professional line dancers, so we'll have a good time uh dancing. We have live uh and silent auctions, we have a raffle for a piece of jewelry, um, and we have a really good time. Uh everyone loves coming. Uh we ask everyone to dress in shades of blue. Uh, the the our uh theme this year is lives on the line. So uh yeah, so we want everyone to dress in shades of blue. It's cocktail attire, or you can wear formal attire, whatever you'd like, but um, it's a really good time.

Gail Langner 13:56

Can they sign up on your website? Yes, based on there. Okay. I can tell you that where I live here in Estero, I do believe that the people at my at my club think they are professional line dancers.

Terri Ballo 14:11

I think they do. Well, they can they can come out to Aqua Ball and have a good time line dancing.

Gail Langner 14:17

There you go. I'll I'll spread the news. Please do. Oh, Terry, thank you so much for joining um today and look forward to going to the Aquaball. And um, I'm just I'm I'm thrilled you could you could be here today. Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything you're doing.

Terri Ballo 14:33

You're welcome.

Gail Langner 14:34

I'm glad that when you were nudged to do something about this drowning that you ran with it. And I know it it can't have been easy, and I know it probably is, you know, still a lot of work, but I'm sure it's extremely gratifying. So thank you for joining today. It is. Thank you so much, Gail. We appreciate it. Absolutely.

Intro/Close 14:53

Thank

Final Thanks And Closing Message

Intro/Close 14:54

you for joining us on State Insurance USA Cares. We hope today's story uplifted and inspired you. If you'd like to support or learn more about the incredible work happening in your community, visit StateInsuranceusa.com or call 239 567 9992. You can also visit CaboWaboJim.com. Until next time, be sure to let your sun shine and keep sharing good and positive vibes wherever the waves take you.