HCAC Spring Break Experience

Wow! We had a great spring break week last week with many smiling faces, both new patrons and those that have been coming year after year!  We had one person take a moment and write us about her positive experience at HCAC.  The following is her letter and the staff member (young man, lifeguard) that made her day was our very own Thomas!

Dear folks at Aquatic Center,

We visited you yesterday and had lots of fun!  Our family just moved to the West Michigan area from Kenya, Africa.  We've lived overseas almost all of my adult life and Kenya is 'home' for my children.  We've only been here two months, so many things are new and as you can imagine sometimes the transitions are hard.  (I have a reason for sharing this with you, so please keep reading!) 

Sometimes our 'normal' is not the norm here, in our new country.  An example of this was yesterday when we were swimming at your place.  Our oldest daughter, had a typical 'swimsuit' for Africa, very acceptable there - a pair of swimming shorts and a cotton tank top.  I thought this might not work in a swimming pool environment, but it was all we had and haven't been able to do the real swimsuit shopping yet.  Well, we gave it a try and we would see what would happen.

Katelyn, my daughter, was bravely standing in line for the swim test, which is a great way to run things by the way!  The young man, life guarding there, asked us kindly, "Is that a swimsuit?"  Ugh.  I guess we were 'caught'.  We both stood completely silent, I understood his point, but I was a helpless mom.  Secretly pleading with my eyes to let me kid swim.  It felt like forever!  The young man, quickly offered, "We have lots of swimsuits in the lost and found.  She's welcome to try one to use for the day.  For real, there's good stuff in there!  I'll call my coworker, Amanda to bring them to the front and she can try one on!"  We thought this was answered prayer!  He made a quick call and Amanda brought a bin of suits for us to try.  We took three and one was a perfect fit! 

I just wanted to let you know, as a mom, and a new resident in the area, I appreciate the grace that was expressed in encouraging us to follow the rules.  The sensitivity and kindness that was expressed, meant loads to us on a rough day!  The smiley lifeguard gave us a thumbs up later, with Katelyn's new suit. 

Thanks for taking the time to help keep kids safe and have fun, in a dignified way.

Blessed day.

Wendy 

Thanks to Thomas for making this visit to HCAC a great experience, and thanks to Wendy for letting us know about it!