HUNTINGTON BEACH : Junior Lifeguard Site Update Is in Works
The Junior Lifeguard program is having growing pains.
The popular summer activity draws so many participants that the structure from the 1930s where sessions take place is woefully inadequate, parents and other supporters say. But the city says it doesn’t have the money to build a new one.
The Junior Lifeguard course is “one of the most positive programs you can put your children in. I just have a real fondness for the program, and I can definitely see their needs,” said Ginny Parazette, whose son is a city lifeguard and whose 9-year-old stepson is in this summer’s session.
To solve the problem, Parazette and others propose to raise $400,000 for a headquarters that also could be used for first aid and medical training during the off-season.
The Junior Lifeguard program started in 1964 with 34 boys who wanted to learn beach safety and life-saving skills. Since then, thousands of boys and girls from 9 to 17 years old have completed the eight-week course.
In the past three years, the program has been growing by 100 youngsters annually and has an enrollment this summer of 950, the largest in its history, coordinator Dave Simcox said.
“We could grow to over 1,000 kids, if we had the building,” he said.
The small building being used now was built in the 1930s and once served as the city’s lifeguard headquarters.
Community Services Director Ron Hagan said a new building is in the city’s master plan for the area near Huntington Street by lifeguard tower No. 7. But it could be five to 10 years before money is available for the project, he said.
The fund-raising drive will begin with a pancake breakfast Saturday from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Lake Park, at Lake and 12th streets. The cost will be $3 a person.
Parazette said the campaign will include appeals for sponsors.
The fund-raiser definitely has his support, Hagan said.
“If the community wants to do a grass-roots project, it makes for great public-private partnership,” he said. “They deserve a new headquarters.”