Flotilla 88 members give two Lake County children life jackets. Flotilla members left to right, back row, are: Jack Gerhardt, D.A. Butts, Ed Moore, Chris Ruttan, Rich Thomas and Pati Gerhardt; front row, Betty Strach and Jerry Collins. Courtesy photo.

LAKE COUNTY – The “Children's Life Jacket Project” was a huge success with 200 children's life jackets handed out to children under the age of 12 accompanied by a parent or guardian.

As part of National Safe Boating Week, May 19-25, Coast Guard Auxiliary Lake County Flotilla 88 will be involved in several safe boating activities in addition to the children's life jacket project. Flotilla members will be at boat ramps offering courtesy vessel safety checks, attending civic functions and undertaking in-house training to sharpen personal skills for the upcoming boating season.

The children's life jacket project is the brainchild of Kelseyville resident Juanita Collins. She was moved to create the project after the drowning of a child five years ago on Clearlake.

In its four years of existence just under 800 children's life jackets have been handed out free of charge.

This year's project would not be possible without the generous monetary contributions from donors, including $1,000 from Clearlake Wal-Mart, donations from the Flotilla 88 special project fund, Jack and Pati Gerhardt, Braito's Marina, Thomas Associates, D.A. and Leona Butts, Jerry and Juanita Collins, Disney Watersports and one anonymous donor.

Many thanks to this year's Flotilla 88 project chairperson Pati Gerhardt, Wal-Mart staff – especially Sports Department Manager Bill Hulse – and Flotilla 88 members and volunteers who staffed the May 19 affair.

The US Coast Guard Auxiliary is the civilian volunteer arm of the US Coast Guard and its core mission is recreational boating safety. The US Coast Guard motto is “Semper paratus” – “Always ready.”

For more information on the Coast Guard Auxiliary contact Flotilla Commander Richard Thomas at 489-0466 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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