JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Some of the best swimmers on the planet are from right here on the First Coast. And while swimming is a sport that can lead someone to the top of the podium, it's also an activity that is enjoyed by millions of kids.
A woman in Jacksonville made it her mission to teach kids to swim because of the intersection of Olympic dreams and tragedy within her own life.
"Sometimes I get 30, 40, 50 phone calls a day, and I just love it," said Joyce Delifus.
It's a typical Saturday morning at the Johnson Family YMCA in Northwest Jacksonville and a typical day means the pool is filled with kids learning how to swim... all thanks to Delifus.
"Every day I come on this pool deck, every time I see these children I just light up," she said.
Delifus is the founder of the Shawn D. Delifus Foundation, a non-profit focused on teaching people how to swim. The organization traces its roots back 8 years ago following the sudden and tragic death of Joyce's son Shawn.
"It was a very tough grieving process," Delifus said, "so I had to find something that kept me going, kept me alive, kept me happy."
Shawn Delifus was a swimming instructor and shortly after his death a memorial service was held for him at the YMCA in the summer of 2016. Delifus said it was attended by two young men she'd never met before.
"Ryan Murphy and Caeleb Dressel, I had never heard of them before," Delifus said. "They came here to the YMCA after the funeral and both of them came up to me and said 'Ms. Delifus, Coach Shawn got us to the Olympics.'"
In the months after meeting Murphy and Dressel for the first time, Joyce Delifus was reunited with the new Olympic gold medalists.
"Caeleb's mom said to me, 'if it hadn't been for your son, my son would have never gone to the Olympics,'" recalled Delifus, "that was the moment I started the foundation."
This foundation does more than just teach kids and adults how to swim. It also financially sponsors teenagers to do through lifeguard training to be able to earn a job. Michelle Downer volunteers with the foundation and has a 16-year-old grandson who went through lifeguard training and now has a job with the City of Jacksonville. Downer said the foundation guided her grandson to a better life.
"He doesn't hang in the streets, he doesn't do that," Downer said. "This is how it started off, this gave him an opportunity that took him all the way up to being a better person with school, and now he's making a living."
That's part of the goal of the foundation.
"It just lights a fire under me, it's not just a swimming program, but a ministry to keep children alive," Delifus said. "I don't have grandchildren, they're not my biological children, but when they come to the pool they all belong to me."
Delifus said she plans to continue with the foundation and be poolside to teach kids how to swim as long as she's alive. The program is full for the remainder of this summer, but they're already taking reservations for next year.
If you would like more information about the Shawn D. Delifus Foundation, visit their website by clicking here.