Goggles for Guppies Milestones
August 2011
October 2011
The idea to solicit and donate swim equipment to encourage underprivileged children to learn to swim was developed by 12-year old twin brothers Chris and Matt Hales during the North American Challenge Cup swim meet in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Goggles for Guppies was incorporated as a California public benefit corporation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. 200 solicitation letters were sent and the initial shipments of donated swim equipment were received and distributed to learn to swim programs.
Year 2011
January 2012
August 2012
Year 2012
August 2013
September 2013
Year 2013
August 2014
October 2014
Year 2014
March 2015
May 2015
June 2015
November 2015
Year 2015
July 2016
August 2016
Year 2016
January 2017
August 2017
Year 2017
Year 2018
Year 2019
August 2020
September 2020
Year 2020
Year 2021
Goggles for Guppies, just 3 months old, distributed 220 donated new swim suits, plus caps and goggles to local learn to swim programs for underprivileged children.
Goggles for Guppies founders Chris and Matt Hales were honored by Executive Director Kim Burgess during the National Drowning Prevention Alliance Annual Symposium in San Diego, CA.
Goggles for Guppies was invited to become an inaugural member of the USA Swimming Foundation Make a Splash Affiliate Coalition as the official distributor of donated swim equipment to Make a Splash Local Partner swim programs nation-wide.
During 2012 Goggles for Guppies distributed 1,760 new swim suits, 450 swim caps and 375 pair of goggles to learn to swim programs for underprivileged children. GFG also distributed 200 pair of goggles and 100 swim caps to the Special Olympics Spring Games.
Goggles for Guppies was featured in the August 2013 issue of Aqua Magazine in an article titled "The Joy of Swimming - Shared".
Goggles for Guppies founders Chris and Matt were honored by USA Swimming Foundation Executive Director Debbie Hesse at the 34th Annual United States Aquatic Sports Convention in Anaheim, California.
In 2013 Goggles for Guppies distributed 3,080 new swim suits along with several hundred caps and goggles to Make a Splash Local Partners throughout the United States. We also distributed 400 new competition training suits to high school swim teams in high risk, low income areas. This brings our combined total of donated new Arena, Speedo and TYR swim suits distributed to underprivileged children to 5,460 in an effort to encourage them to learn the life saving skill of swimming.
Our first International distribution: Goggles for Guppies provided 100 suits to The Dive Spot of Abilene, Texas in support of their annual water safety mission to Uganda.
Goggles for Guppies was incorporated as a California public benefit corporation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. 200 solicitation letters were sent and the initial shipments of donated swim equipment were received and distributed to learn to swim programs.
In 2014 Goggles for Guppies distributed 2,275 swim suits, 180 caps and 600 Goggles to enable at-risk children to participate in learn to swim programs bringing our total distributions over the 10,000 level.
Goggles for Guppies became a proud partner of the FINIS So More Can Swim Initiative. With every FINIS goggle purchase, FINIS donates a percentage to support our learn to swim initiative for at-risk children.
Goggles for Guppies became a proud partner of the FINIS So More Can Swim Initiative. With every FINIS goggle purchase, FINIS donates a percentage to support our learn to swim initiative for at-risk children.
Mayor Dore Gilbert, MD., and the City Council of Laguna Hills, California officially recognized Goggles for Guppies founders Chris and Matt Hales for their “ongoing contributions as a role model and for demonstrating inspiring acts of community service and dedication to making the world a better place.”
USA Swimming Foundation Golden Goggles Awards, Los Angeles, CA - Chris and Matt Hales were presented the USA Swimming Foundation Make A Splash Hero Award on behalf of Goggles for Guppies for providing more than 16,000 new swimsuits, caps and goggles to at-risk children in an effort to end childhood drowning.
As of year-end 2015 Goggles for Guppies distributed 17,200 new donated swimsuits, swim caps and goggles to learn-to-swim programs for underprivileged children.
Awarded the ABC-7 and Disney ABC Television Group Community Service Award for Outstanding Achievement.
Goggles for Guppies proudly became the 5,814th honoree of the Daily Point of Light Award, created by President George H. W. Bush.
Goggles for Guppies passed the 20,000 threshold of distributed suits, caps and goggles to domestic and international learn-to-swim programs for at-risk children.
Chris and Matt are each awarded the President's Volunteer Service Lifetime Achievement Award conferred by President Barack Obama.
Goggles for Guppies continues our support for African children by donating goggles for Swim Benin and the Beninese Swim Federation's month-long Holiday Swim Program (www.helpbeninswim.weebly.com)
Goggles for Guppies has distributed more than 25,000 new suits, caps and goggles to help underprivileged children become water-safe.
We passed the $1 million mark in value of donated swim equipment.
The Retail Value of donated suits, caps and goggles surpassed $1,600,000.