Our Earth Is 71% water!
Board Director Spotlight
Benadette Matthis wants you to take a Swim Class and a Water Safety Class. Everyone should take a Water Safety Class because there are many things to look for when you approach varied water sources (such as home pool, river, lake, and ocean).
Benadette is a passionate swimmer, a Red Cross Water Safety Instructor and a Red Cross CPR/AED/ First Aid Instructor. She is an award winning educator having spent 30 years teaching secondary math in Boston public schools.
Interviews here:
Board Secretary Spotlight
Sarah Barrington began swimming by accident in kindergarten and never looked back. She swam competitively through college.
She has taught many adults and children how to swim and has always felt passionate about everyone having access to the ability to learn this life skill.
Currently she teaches Biology in Boston, is a Red Cross CPR/AED/First Aid instructor, and still swims in her free time.
We want you to be comfortable!
Board Treasurer Spotlight
Michele Goe is an avid athlete (tennis, golf, cycling, and hiking) and a new swimmer. She enjoys the salty beaches in New England from spring to fall. The best part of swimming for Michele is the joy of movement in water. For Michele, swimming is a family affair, both of her children are avid swimmers on the local swim team.
Michele had water anxiety for years prior to taking lessons as a new parent. In late adulthood she began to resolve her fear and learn to swim, motivated by a desire to break the 'curse' of women in her family who are afraid of water and cannot swim.
Michele currently does asset allocation research at a trillion dollar asset manager in Boston. Dr. Goe is the author of several academic papers on sustainability policy. She earned her doctorate in materials science from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Dr. Goe has master's and bachelor's degrees in engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
We want you to be safe!
Board Advisor Spotlight Update!
Eileen Sullivan Shakespear grew up splashing and swimming around at Nantasket, Carson Beach and Sunset Lake in Braintree. At Nantasket, she developed a love for clear, smooth ocean water. She still pool swims 3-4 times a week year round. To Eileen a swim gives her a chance to keep learning and is her favorite health and mood boost.
Besides being a swimmer, Eileen is an almost retired teacher with a 50 year career in the Boston Public Schools, mostly at Fenway High but also at middle schools, the Irving, the Lewis and the Wheatley. She currently works very part time in staff support at Boston Green Academy. Though no longer teaching full time, she still loves the vitality, the variety, the beauty, and spunky spirit of city people and city schools.
When she is not working or swimming, Eileen does coffee shop research, cooks, talks, argues and laughs with friends and family, reads good books, and enjoys great food and travel.
Swim Freedom Annual Report 2026
2025 Overview
Growth!!
March 5, 2026
In September 2024, we started with 7 young homeschoolers per week. By the end of 2025, we had 50 swimmers in the water per week. That is a 200% growth!
In 2025, the general public started to buzz about this new non-profit in Boston that offered swimming classes for free, not only for children but for adults too! With that kind of buzz, SF did not need to build a marketing plan because of the powerful word of mouth. People want to learn how to swim, and it is a strong desire.
We don’t just “teach swimming”, we make sure that our swimmers KNOW how to save themselves through learning how to swim and understanding water safety, all at an affordable price. We don’t just offer an 8-week course. We offer between 16 and 32+ weeks so that our swimmers will have the time to really learn how to swim well enough to save themselves and have fun too!
We did not do this alone. Score Mentoring, Score online business classes, Boston Mentors, Lawyers Clearing House, and our attorneys helped us navigate the mounds of paperwork and legalities that we faced.
Overall, we are very pleased with what Swim Freedom has accomplished in such a short time. Without our swimmers, board, and grantors, we would not have accomplished so much. But most importantly, there is a serious need for everyone to learn how to swim and/or learn water safety at a reasonable or no cost.