Six swimmers affiliated with the varsity men’s and women’s swimming teams at Baruch College are planning on swimming 28.5 miles around the island of Manhattan on Saturday, June 18 to help raise money for a program called “Swim Free.”

Baruch female swimming alums Jessica Penaherrera ’10 and Annelie Gregor '09, along with current varsity male swimmers Gabriel Yanez, R. Michael Shiwnath and Patrick Campbell, will join assistant coach Angeoline Piguave-Cowan in taking turns to swim around the borough of Manhattan. The alternate swimmers on stand-by will be current varsity swimmers Benjamin Chu and Grace Kim.

“Swim Free” is a local New York City charity that focuses on teaching kids (and adults) how to swim and participate in events, while wearing suits, goggles and caps. 

In many cases, these kids or adults do not have the resources to afford even the most basic swimming gear. As a result, the program “Swim Free” was created and over the years members from various New York City swimming clubs and teams have fundraised to help the program.

The Baruch varsity swimming program is participating in order to give back to the swimming community, and help those that can’t afford to swim. The Bearcats are hoping to raise $8,000.00.

To learn more about the program “Swim Free,” please visit their website at www.swimfree.org.

How can the public help?

Donations (100% percent tax deductible) can be made to one of the links below.

http://www.nycswim.org/About/DonateForm.aspx?from=UserBio&Relay_ID=325&Event_ID=2102

http://www.swimfree.org/donate

Or, if you prefer to use the old fashioned way, please mail a check to the attention of "Swim Free", P.O. Box 512, New York, NY, 10024.  Please include in your check the name of our team (Baruch Bearcats for Swim Free).

For more information, please contact assistant coach Angeoline Piguave-Cowan at the e-mail addresses below or by phone at 718-902-0266 or 646-312-5060.

Pangeoline@yahoo.com or apiguave@gmail.com