Deadline February 21, 2006

The easiest way to ensure a child’s safety on the water is to make sure they wear a properly-fitting life jacket. But children’s growth spurts or last minute changes to the roster of invited guests don’t always make that easy. However, your boat club or waterfront business may be able to help next season as the BoatU.S. Foundation for Boating Safety & Clean Water is looking for new locations to become lending sites for its free Life Jacket Loaner Program. Since the program began in 1997, three children’s lives have been saved as a result of wearing a BoatU.S. life jacket.

There is no cost to become a loaner site and presently over 328 clubs and businesses participate as Life Jacket Loaner Program sites. The loaner life jacket kit consists of 12 jackets in a protective container, signage and easy-to-use sign-out sheets to track usage. Three sizes are included for kids up to 90 pounds.

Over 75,000 life jackets are loaned out each year through the program. To download an application to become a Life Jacket Loaner Program site or for more information on the laws in your state, please visit http://www.BoatUS.com/Foundation/LJLP Applications will be accepted until February 21, 2006.

The BoatU.S Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit education and research organization primarily funded by the voluntary contributions of 630,000 members of BoatU.S. The Foundation operates more than a dozen programs including the only accredited, free, online general boating safety course, a low-cost EPIRB rental program, the “Help Stop the Drops” national clean fueling campaign, a free kid’s Life Jacket Loaner program, and has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants for nonprofit groups for boating safety and environmental projects.