Why a father is visiting Miami to raise money for water safety

Miami-Dade County admin July 28, 2026 0 Comments

Why a father is visiting Miami to raise money for water safety

After losing his son, a California father is attending the Marlins- Phillies game on Wednesday, his 13th Major League baseball game in 13 days, to raise money for swimming lessons and water safety education in the communities he visits.

Jonathan St. Clair lost his son, Jasper, in a “preventable drowning” a week before opening day in 2014. Jasper was 21 months old.

In his son’s memory, St. Clair has begun The Wave Maker Tour, where he is visiting 30 MLB games in 30 days across the country.

While in the care of a trusted babysitter, Jasper was taken to a home with an unfenced pool and was left unsupervised for matter of minutes when he drowned.

Now, St. Clair, who lives outside Anaheim, has started a nonprofit, the Jasper Ray Foundation, and has begun this campaign. His goal is to raise $662,000 — representing $1,000 for each day Jasper lived.

With the money, St. Clair said he intends to put it back into the communities for water safety education and swimming lessons.

Donations can be made on the campaign website or in person at the game. St. Clair said people have even handed him cash at the stadium to get involved.

According to St. Clair, the purpose of this tour is to raise awareness of the preventable nature of most drownings, and educate people on how to remain safe around water.

“Our suggestion and our push with a lot of what we’re doing with this campaign is to get people to talk about putting their children into swim lessons early,” St. Clair said. “That is a really big key.”

This year is on track to become the deadliest year for child drownings in Florida history. Drowning is the leading cause of death in children ages 1 through 4, and the second leading cause of death in children ages 5 through 14, after only vehicle crashes.

But his outreach doesn’t stop with children, he said.

“The water is supposed to be fun, and sadly enough, when you have adults that don’t ever learn how to swim, they don’t get to enjoy the water,” St. Clair said. “They’re scared to go in it, and that’s terrible.”

More than half the nation’s adults have never taken formal swimming lessons, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the National Library of Medicine, taking swim lessons reduces the drowning risk by 88% in children ages 1 to 4.

For maintaining safe around water, St. Clair said he is using this campaign to spread awareness of the importance of swimming lessons, pool fences, pool alarms and wearing life jackets when in the water.

The tour began on July 17 and will conclude on Aug. 15.