DETROIT – The family of Olympic swimmer Peter Vanderkaay wants you to wear your pride during the Summer Games and support an important cause in the city of Detroit.
Vanderkaay's family, who lives in Rochester, has created a PVK support t-shirt that people can wear during the London Olympics.
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This is Peter Vanderkaay's third trip to the Olympics. He will compete in the 400 meter freestyle. In his Olympic debut in Athens, Greece in 2004 he won a gold medal and set a world record with the 4 by 200 meter freestyle relay team. He returned to the Summer Games in Beijing, China in 2008 and won a gold medal in the 800 meter freestyle relay and a bronze in the 200 meter freestyle, an individual event.
The shirts can be bought from Underground Printing and money raised from the sales will support Detroit Swims, a program at the Boll Family YMCA in Detroit.
Detroit Swims began nearly two years ago and its goal is to teach every child in Detroit how to swim by the fifth grade.
The Boll Family YMCA goes to neighborhood pools and teaches children of all ages how to swim. They also train high school aged kids how to teach younger kids to swim as a way to keep the program paying forward.
Detroit Swims has already taught 700 kids how to swim since the program started. The ultimate goal is to teach 1,500 children every year.
Nikole Saffle, the senior program director at the Boll Family YMCA, said the Vanderkaay family has been very involved in helping Detroit Swims and has made donations of money and swimsuits. She said Peter Vanderkaay plans to be a public face of the program once he returns to the metro Detroit area following the Summer Olympics in London.
Underground Printing said anyone wanting to receive their shirt before the start of the Summer Games on July 27 needs to place their orders before 3 p.m. Wednesday. People can still purchase the shirts after that time, they just won't be guaranteed for the start of the Olympics. To see the shirt and place an order, click here.
As of Wednesday morning, about 650 shirts had been sold.
For more information on the program you can call (313) 309-9622 or click here.