Hello Hanarry West families! 

The Gwinnett County Swim League is excited to announce that we will be participating in this year's Swim Across America (SAA) event at Lake Lanier Islands on September 23rd for the first time. Swim Across America is a national organization that hosts pool swims and open water swims across the country to raise money for cancer treatment and research. Swim Across America-Atlanta is hosting an open water competition at Lake Lanier this fall that is raising money for research at our own Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's AFLAC cancer and blood disorder research center. This is a huge event not only for the swim community but for the Atlanta community. Several Olympians have already committed to this year's event! Some of them include Missy Franklin along with our local Olympians Amanda Weir and Doug Gjertsen. Swimmers will get to meet olympians, participate in an open water swim, and have a great time with their friends while helping a great cause!

There are several different opportunities for you and your swimmer to participate in this event including a 1/2 mile race, 1 mile race, a 5K race, 2 mile relays or signing up to be a volunteer. We want team Gwinnett County Swim League to be the largest team and raise the most money for children with cancer, and we want to have lot of WIld Timber families participating! Swim Across America will be hosting open water clinics to help prepare our swimmers for the open water experience. There is an upcoming race clinic being hosted at Georgia Tech on June 25th with olympians Amanda Weir and Doug Gjertsen for only $25. Light lunch is provided also.

Space is limited! This event did sell out last year, so swimmers interested should sign up now and join the Gwinnett County Swim League team. The registration cost is currently $50 to sign up. The registration cost will remain $50 between April 1st and August 19th, and the cost will increase to $100 if you register between August 20th and event day. All participants under 18 are required to raise $150 by event day, with their registration fee counting towards that $150. All swimmers over 18 are required to raise at least $300 by event day. GCSL will be hosting fundraisers that your swimmers can participate in to help raise their individual goal of $150 or they can ask friends and family to donate to sponsor their swim. Swimmers will get to meet Olympians, participate in an open water swim, and have a great time with their friends while helping a great cause! This is a great way for your swimmer and for you to swim in honor of a child you know battling cancer, a survivor of cancer or an angel of cancer. Pediatric cancer is the leading cause of death in children in America. Pediatric cancer receives less than 4% of all cancer research funds. The money raised will directly fund cancer research being done in Atlanta at CHOA's Aflac cancer and blood disorders center and can benefit patients from our communities who are battling this awful disease. 

As most of you know Kyle battled cancer this year and is now NED (no evidence of disease). He was treated at AFLAC and wants to give back. Both he and Mikayla are Hanarry West Ambassadors for Swim Across America. Mikayla will be participating in the 1/2 mile race and Kyle will be volunteering as both an Ambassador/Representative for GCSL and for AFLAC.  Therefore they need to raise $150.00. We will have a variety of items to give people who donate both at practice and at our Swim Meets. Stay tuned for some other fun events for our team to raise money! 

Thanks! We appreciate everyone's support in this endeavor!! 

Dee, Kyle, & Mikayla

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To sign up click the link below  or copy and paste to your browser and the click the "Join Team" button to join Gwinnett County Swim League's team! We know Wild Timber has the best swimmer families! Let's let Atlanta know by showing up and giving more than all the rest!

http://www.swimacrossamerica.org/site/TR/OpenWater/Atlanta/338256177?pg=team&fr_id=4377&team_id=19028