An Upper East Side swimmer with dreams of sharing her love of water with every child of the city has raised nearly $100,000 to expand free swim lessons in the Big Apple.
Ali Wight’s Turning The Tide swim-a-thon is bigger than ever for its third year, as the determined 17-year-old strives to combat drownings that spiked in the five boroughs in recent years.
“I’ve taken it for granted to learn how to swim, and I think a lot of my friends have as well. You don’t realize that it’s a life-saving skill,” said Wright, a junior at the Nightingale-Bamford School.
At least 50 people have signed up to swim for this year’s swimming fundraiser, with Wight expecting that number to grow as the May 2 event inches closer.
Some paid a flat $50 minimum fee to participate, while others have pledged to raise at least $1 per lap that they swim during the 2-and-a-half-hour event — which means big bucks since some of Wright’s competitive teammates will be in the mix.
“Last year, the most [someone swam] was 300 laps. This year, I think he is planning to do 400. At least!” said Wright, 17, adding that she’s aiming to surpass the 100 laps of her own that she logged last year.
The cash benefits Asphalt Green’s Waterproofing program, which offers free swim instruction to roughly 2,000 public school second-graders every year.
The city Parks Department also offers free lessons to about 18,000 people through an annual lottery.
The $75,000 Wright raised at last year’s event meant the program was able to serve an additional 130 students that might not otherwise have been served by the program, which costs roughly $550 per swimmer to run.
The teen was impassioned to start her fundraiser in 2024 after learning that just one in four kids know how to swim in the Big Apple. That same summer, seven water-related deaths occurred at New York City beaches, marking the highest death toll in years.
“I came across a bunch of statistics about the barriers people of color face in gaining access to pools and swim lessons,” the freestyler recalled.
“As someone who loves swimming so much, I was shocked by that and I wanted to do something about it and help as many people learn to swim as possible.”
This year’s fundraiser marks a major growth from its previous two iterations, the first of which raised just $5,000.
The 2026 Turning the Tide swim-a-thon is large enough to take place for the very first time in Asphalt Green’s Olympic-sized pool — where Wright spends upwards of 30 hours per week practicing and working as a lifeguard.
It also coincides with the recreational center’s Big Swim event, which is the city’s largest free swim meet for kids ages 6 through 13.
Additionally, Wright successfully wrangled multiple big-name sponsors, including swim giant TYR, which is providing swim caps, T-shirts and more to participants.
She was even able to wrangle sponsorship from Nightingale-Bamford, where tuition costs $71,000 and administrators are extremely choosy about supporting fundraisers, Wright’s mother said.
“She’s a galvanizer of people. Her desire is not necessarily to put the spotlight on herself, but to do whatever it takes to achieve the goal,” said David Rodriguez, Wright’s head coach and the Senior Director of Aquatics of Asphalt Green.
Beyond equipping fellow Big Apple children with life-saving skills, Wright hopes to share her love of the water and the sport that she says has enriched her own life.
“It’s both an individual and team sport at the same time. You have to compete with yourself to be the best you can be, but at the same time, you’re coming together to make your team the best team. Kind of like how each person at the swim-a-thon is doing their own amount of laps to come together to create a huge donation to help kids learn how to swim,” said Wright.
“It’s bringing the community together and I love the community swimming has brought me.”
