2020 Foundation Goals Announced at Inaugural Event

Meow Meow Foundation held its inaugural end-of-year event on the evening of December 13 for an intimate group of donors, volunteers, board members, family and friends.

Following a social gathering and outdoor dinner, foundation principals Doug Forbes and Elena Matyas explained how they plan on putting donations to work in 2020.

Matyas kicked off the speaking segment by announcing the foundation’s Roxie Acts of Kindness program. “We believe the best way to honor our magical girl is by carrying on her exceptional spirit of giving and caring,” said Matyas. “You know how Roxie treated other children and all of us adults while she was alive, and we must all work together to ensure that her legacy is paid forward now that she is no longer with us.”

Doug Forbes,Elena Matyas, Elva De Jarnett at Meow Meow Foundation end of year event | Photo Michelle Matthews

Forbes discussed how the foundation plans to use generous donations pouring in from coast to coast. “Meow Meow Foundation is thrilled to announce a robust agenda for next year, although some of our plans are already in motion,” he said. “Our programming will require significant, steady support. That’s because drowning is a significant and steady opponent.”

The couple imparted how The Walt Disney Company has already committed to an employee match program, wherein it will match each employee donation up to $25,000. The foundation also plans to aggressively seek corporate sponsorships and strategic alliances that will either fund or afford in-kind arrangements for specific initiatives.

The following represent seven of the foundation’s primary initiatives.

ROXIE RULES SACRAMENTO

The MMF camp licensing bill is due to be introduced between late January and early February 2020. This bill, titled the ROXIE RULES ACT, impacts millions of children, families, public and private sector stakeholders statewide. It is a high-profile bill attached to a high-profile senator and thus requires MMF to dialog with Senator Portantino’s team and other state agencies every week. Doug and Elena will testify in front of at least one committee in March. MMF will charter buses and rooms so that public school children, parents and other community members can see the legislative process unfold, support and honor the beloved Roxie and rally around the bill. This field trip initiative is titled ROXIE RULES SACRAMENTO.

ROXIE RULES POOLS

MMF will develop educational material to be distributed to pool contractors and pool supply and service people who, by law, are required to follow certain safety guidelines, such as proper non-entrapment drains. MMF will also provide these pool companies with customizable promotional and educational material (on which they can add their own logo and contact info) that they can distribute to pool owner clients or client prospects. By illustrating how invested they are in client and child safety, these pool companies will have a competitive edge.

MMF will rent mailing lists targeting all regional private and public sector pool owners/managers in order to distribute educational material with an invitation to join the ROXIE RULES CLUB from which they can order water watcher badges, Pool Rules posters, discounted swim lessons and life jackets and also receive invitations to a host of fun, informative events. This community initiative is titled ROXIE RULES THE POOL.

ROXIE RULES SCHOOLS

MMF has already established a strategic alliance with the world class Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. One of MMF’s board members, Cristina Alvarado, is director of swim lessons at the facility. She runs a program called “Learn to Swim” through which hundreds of public school third graders receive 15 free lessons each year. Not only does MMF want to help expand that program to kindergartners and first and second graders—who are more vulnerable than third graders—but it also wants to couple the swim lessons with in-class health and safety education. For instance, MMF will develop visual curriculum, using its quirky Meow Meow character, to teach children how important it is to establish pool buddy systems, to be kind and careful around all bodies of water and to also understand that a healthy respect for water is vital—which cats most certainly have!

And since parents and guardians are largely responsible for their children’s drowning outcomes, MMF will develop curriculum for adults delivered via webinars, podcasts and downloadable material.

Incidentally, Pacific Oaks Children’s preschool—Roxie’s first school experience—has been remarkably supportive. Dear parent friends and supporters at POS will connect MMF to charter and private schools that can also take advantage of the ROXIE RULES SCHOOLS initiative.

ROXIE RULES CALIFORNIA

This state is B—I—G, the fifth largest economy in the world. California has about 1000 miles of coastline plus lakes, rivers, ponds and hundreds of thousands of pools. But what it does not have is an end-to-end drowning prevention solution. And because that is the case, the state suffers the third most drowning deaths behind Florida and Texas. California has also seen about 10 thousand kids rushed to hospitals for near drowning consequences over the last decade. MMF will travel the state to build a 58-county drowning prevention task force. This collective will leverage its lobbying power to demand funding and resources that help facilitate its mission to eliminate, not mitigate, preventable drowning. Elimination sounds unrealistic. But, so did sending a tiny metal box to the moon or building teeny-tiny chips that power the way we live and work. All adults have to do is look at kids so they don’t drown. But for some reason, we keep failing to do that. This will change when ROXIE RULES CALIFORNIA.

ROXIE RULES PREVENTION

Because drowning is the number two cause of death for children 0-4, and because children drown in bathtubs and buckets just like they do in pools and the Pacific, parents of newborns should leave hospitals with a ROXIE RULES PREVENTION packet sponsored by the American Pediatrics Association.

MMF believes that if new parents are required to have a car seat before they are discharged, full CPR certification should be part of the PREVENTION campaign, not merely a cursory lesson.

MMF will implement its “Don’t Let Us D(r)own” awareness campaign at the renowned Huntington and Children’s hospitals as part of Water Safety Awareness Month in May.

Most children who survive significant drowning incidents suffer a range of debilitating effects which require extremely expensive care, therefore, MMF will support research of treatment and recovery options.

MMF will also contract with a corporate sponsor to fund branded ROXIE RULES U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket stations at hospitals, public pools, camps and other recreational water locations.

ROXIE RULES MAY

As mentioned, May is Water Safety Awareness Month. MMF will hold a regional Town Hall with water safety experts, health and safety officials and other stakeholders. Strategic partners will offer incentives, including the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center offering a discounted swim lesson program and pool equipment suppliers offering innovative gear. Patrons who sign up for the ROXIE RULES CLUB will receive ROXIE RULES WATER SAFETY packets.

ROXIE RULES INNOVATION

MMF has begun to explore innovative water safety gear including self-latching pool fencing, unique alarms, advanced personal flotation devices and more.

ROXIE RULES INNOVATION is a campaign that will request—via a widespread integrated print, broadcast and social media campaign—ideas for the most innovative drowning prevention product. MMF is already dialoging with the renowned ArtCenter College of Design and about to contact the California Institute of Technology to actually design and build the winning idea, which we will market nationwide.