top of page

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

Year 2022

Year 2023

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.

Goggles for Guppies passed the $2 million dollar mark retail value of distributed suits, caps and goggles.

Goggles for Guppies proudly supports Grenada Youth Adventurers and Get Grenada Swimming in their collaborative effort to end accidental drowning in the country of Grenada.

Retail value of distributed suits, caps and goggles surpasssed $2.5 million

Thanks to unwavering support from manufacturers such as Speedo USA and retailers like Sportfair USA, since we set up our first equipment donation box at a local pool, Goggles for Guppies has distributed more than $3 million in retail value of new suits, caps and goggles to learn to swim programs for domestic learn-to-swim programs and international humanitarian efforts for financially challenged children..

Year 2022 distributions to domestic and international water safety programs  exceeded $300,000 in retail value, brining our lifetime distributions of swimsuits, goggles and caps to nearly $3.5 million in retail value.

2023 was a tremendous year for equipment distributions to learn-to-swim programs for financially challenged children - we have now surpassed $4 million in retail value of swimsuits, goggles and swim caps to learn to swim programs throughout the United States and internationally.

bottom of page