Joint Board Matter with Supervisor Herrity

June 5, 2018

Recognizing the Shark Tank Army of Love and Friends

Madam Chairman,

Supervisor Herrity & I would like to thank the Army of Love, Shark Tank Racing Squad Swimmers and friends for their commitment to community service, raising money for both breast cancer research and assisting needy families in our community.

Led by Patty Friedman, these 60 swimmers in her Army of Love have made helping others a top priority. Over the past eight years, this group of young people and their leader have raised more than $236,000 to fight Breast Cancer. Participating in a recent swim marathon to raise money in support of the National Breast Cancer Coalition they swam 325,000 yards and raised $36,000. They presented the monies at the National Breast Cancer Coalition’s Annual Summit. This money will be used to help fund the clinical trials for a breast cancer preventative vaccine.

Coach Friedman’s swimmers, who come from her Shark Tank Racing Squad and other area teams have continued to support Britepaths (formerly Our Daily Bread) over the years with various fundraisers and food drives. This included contributing nearly one ton of food to Britepaths’ most recent “Complete the Circle Foodraiser” where the team also set up a face painting booth to entertain the children. Over the past five years, the members have also supported projects at Arlington VFW, cooking and serving Thanksgiving dinners to homeless veterans. For the past two years they have raised money and then shopped as Santa’s Elves to provide toys for the children of the Arlington National Cemetery’s Caisson families.

Over the past nine years, Coach Friedman has worked to instill a sense of giving in her swimmers. She has taught these young swimmers what service to others is all about. After she completes her tenth year, Coach Friedman will be stepping down, but, she will still be involved helping many of these kids and volunteering within the community. Supervisor Herrity & I applaud Coach Friedman and her Shark Tank Army of Love for making a difference in our community.

Madame Chairman, we would ask the Shark Tank Army of Love and Patty Friedman, come before the Board for formal recognition at the July 10 Board meeting.