Members of the Haines Dolphins swim team again have set records in their annual swim-a-thon fundraiser.
“We raised $20,000 with a smaller team than ever before,” said coordinator Sarah Posey, noting the Dolphins had a 100 percent participation rate in the event.
The team in 2010 raised more than $19,000.
In early March, 43 Dolphins swam up to 200 lengths in the two-hour swim-a-thon. Donations were collected through March 18, and the team easily surpassed its $17,500 goal.
Four swimmers topped a $1,000 fundraising total: Jasper Posey, $1,682; Skye Posey, $1,648; Kamakana Kanahele, $1,400; and Dylan Chapell, $1,093.
Head coach Steve Vick credited Posey and James Alborough for their leadership in the fundraising effort. The husband and wife duo set up http://www.swim-a-thon.com, which in its third year of operation accounted for about 60 percent of the proceeds.
“It made sense to me that online fundraising would streamline both the pledge and payment process for busy families and make it easy to bring dollars into our community from far-flung places,” Posey said. “This year saw donations from all over the U.S. and Canada as well as Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Qatar, etc.”
She said some swimmers turned to Facebook to raise hundreds of dollars in only a few hours.
The Dolphins, which consistently have ranked among the top 10 USA Swimming teams in money raised per capita, tallied $462 per swimmer this year.
Posey said Swim-a-Thon donations make up a third of the program’s annual budget.