Please Note: Because of events in Albany that severely impact parking or events at the pool there is no fat swim September 11, September 25 October 2. The pool will be open Sunday September 4 (Labor Day Weekend.)

 

FROM THE MAKING WAVES COORDINATING COMMITTEE:

Finances update: Thanks to generous donations and good attendance the swim is OK financially for the next few months. Your on-going support is still needed – read on for our new “Fat Swim Pledge Season” starting this fall.

Survey: thanks to the 49 community members who completed our recent survey. This was a tremendous response and very very helpful as we plan for the swim’s future.  More info below.

Fat Swim Pledge Season: We want to try designating the period 10/1 – 12/31 as a special “Fat Swim Pledge Season.” Collecting donations during these months will be especially helpful as we enter what are traditionally our “lean” financial months. Whatever extra you can give will be much appreciated! You can give donations to any Coordinating Committee member (checks to Making Waves) or you can donate at our new fundraising site http://generosity.com Making Waves – fat women’s swim.

Outreach about the fat swim – survey respondents had a lot of ideas to increase awareness of the swim. One idea that we can do relatively quickly is to create a postcard that community members can hand out to folks we see who might want to know more about the swim. We’ll also try to have these on-hand to hand out at fat-friendly events (such as Cupcakes and Muffintops, Big Moves events) and have some available for you to take and share with your own networks. We hope to have this done in about 2 months. If you are good with graphic design we’d love your help! Please contact Lynn Ellen Marcus, postcard coordinator, atlemarcus@lynnellen.com

We currently use two email lists, our web page and our Facebook pages for publicity. If you have specific ideas for more ways to reach out, please contact anyone on the coordinating committee.

Opening the swim to all genders of fat people – Data from the survey is below. The community was fairly evenly split about this idea. Members of the Coordinating Committee are still struggling to find a resolution.   We find ourselves on the horns of a dilemma – how to respect the desires for some community members to hold onto the comfort and community as women-only space and how to respect the desires of some community members to reflect more current gender-fluid views to create a space inclusive to all fat people. For the time being we will not be making changes. The swim is open to any self-identified fat woman.   We will continue to discuss at our next Coordinating Committee meeting. Please reach out to any of the Coordinating Committee members with your thoughts. We are particularly interested to hear how you feel about the option of designating 1 swim/month for all genders.

More Detailed Survey Data Available: Many thoughtful and passionate comments not included for space reasons. If you want to see more, contact Judith Stein (Judith_stein@comcast.net) and I will send you a longer report.

Currently, Making Waves is open to all self-identified fat women.  We are curious to learn if you would like to open the swim up to fat people of all genders.  Would you like to change Making Waves intended participants to fat people of all genders? (some women chose more than one answer: a or b, then c or d)

1. No, I do not want to change intended swim participants to attendees of all genders (I want it to remain for fat women only).         13 (29.55%)
2. Yes, I would like to change intended swim participants to fat people of all genders.   18 (40.91%)
3. Yes, I would like to change intended swim participants to fat people of all genders but only once a month.   8 (18.18%)
4. Yes, I would like to change intended swim participants to fat people of all genders but have a women only swim once a month. 12 (27.27%)

Again, thanks to all for your input and thoughts about the swim.   Please let us know your thoughts and we’ll keep you informed about our thinking.

Hope to see you at the pool really soon!

Your Coordinating Committee.
Judith Stein (Judith_stein@comcast.net)   Lin Wilkerson (lwilkerson75@yahoo.com) Christine Ianieri (cmipele@sbcglobal.net) Lynn Ellen Marcus (lemarcus@lynnellen.com)