All loaner life jacket stands at Collier beaches rebuilt after being blown away by Ian

All life jacket loaner stands at 15 public beaches in Collier County are back up, helping to save lives.

Volunteers and a long list of supporters of the NCH Safe & Healthy Children's Coalition of Collier County have completed rebuilding the life jacket loaner stands after damage from Hurricane Ian Sept. 28.

Six stands were rebuilt in March and the final nine were completed this past week, according to Coral Vargas, coordinator of the coalition.

Called the “Kids Don’t Float” program, the idea is to provide families with life jackets for their kids if they forgot to bring their own during their beach visit that day. Some families may not own life jackets and that puts their children at risk.

More: Four families face child drownings in pool accidents in three weeks in SWFL

The NCH safe and healthy kids coalition launched the life jacket loaner program in 2013 after a 2-year-old was found floating face down in the water at Sugden Regional Park in East Naples.

The program, called “Kids Don’t Float — Give Them Something that Does,” is modeled after an initiative in Alaska that got started in 1997.

More: Life jacket loaner program expands

Drowning is the leading cause of death among children ages 1-4 in Collier, according to the state’s Bureau of Vital Statistics.

The month of May is National Water Safety Month and the state Department of Health in Florida urges residents to take precautions to prevent drownings in the state where water is all around in swimming pools, lakes and the Gulf.

Florida’s drowning death rate among children aged 1 to 4 is the highest in the nation, according to the state Department of Children and Families.

In 2022, a total of 92 children drowned statewide, where the last two years have been the highest number of child drownings in the state since 2010 when DCF started tracking the numbers. In 2021, there were 99 child drownings.

More: Drownings peak in the summer. What experts say about pool safety – and how to keep your child safe.

There have not been any child drownings so far this year in Collier but the risk is always there; 51 children in the community have drowned since 2000, Vargas said. One child died in Collier last year from drowning, Vargas said.

Each stand costs $2,000, she said. That includes replacing the 20 life jackets at each stand and signs that inform beachgoers about the program, she said.

All the life jackets were removed before Ian but they have been replaced because of normal wear and tear.

After Ian, two to three of the stands were still standing but were damaged, the rest were destroyed.

To replace all the stands, life jacket and signs cost $30,000 and all it was raised through philanthropic support.

“We raised it all,” she said. “We are very lucky.”

Here are the sites of nine stands finished this week

• Barefoot Beach

• Delnor Wiggins Pass State Park Lot 1

• Delnor Wiggins Pass State Park Lot 3

• Gulf Shore Boulevard Beach

• North Lake Drive

• South Beach Marco island

• Crystal Shores

• Residents Beach

• Tigertail No. 2-South End

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Forget your kid's life jacket? Loaner stands back at Collier beaches