The girls might not have opted to wear the life jackets, but they never had the chance to decide.
Jackie Duong, 12, and Jenny Do, 11, drowned in Silver Lake on May 28. They weren’t wearing life jackets.
Free life jackets are generally available from Memorial Day until Labor Day at the lake, but last summer more than 100 life vests were stolen from the cabinet at Silver Lake. As a result, the cabinet was locked over the Memorial Day weekend.
The girls’ deaths are sad reminders of why the cabinet was built in the first place.
“A life jacket doesn’t take the place of parental supervision. Life jackets can make the difference. It can only take a second to drown,” said Shawneri Guzman, president of Snohomish County SAFE KIDS, the nonprofit group that started the life jacket loaner program about five years ago.
Volunteers built cabinets at five locations in the county, including Silver Lake, Kayak Point County Park, Lake Stevens, Martha Lake and Twin Lakes. Jackets are available to swimmers in sizes from infant to adult.
Organizers are working on a plan to reduce the number of vests that disappear each year at Silver Lake. The jackets are obtained through the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office as part of a state program. SAFE KIDS members rely on grants and community donations, and can’t afford to replace the missing vests, Guzman said.
Diana Hefley is a reporter with The Herald in Everett.
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