The 33rd Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla celebrates the strength of community

A summer long, global invitation - A Swimming in Place Challenge, Our Place, Your Place. 

The 33rd Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla is a global, summer long "Swimming in Place Challenge, Our Place, Your Place" beginning now until September 12, 2020, the designated Swim date. This critical fundraiser and community tradition, which raises funds for AIDS, women’s health and the community, is sponsored by the Provincetown Community Compact (The Compact). It is a certainty in a time of uncertainty.

The Compact invites the public to join swimmers, volunteers, kayakers, walkers and boaters to create a challenge in their home place or in Provincetown, and to take part in a virtual online celebration from Provincetown on September 12!

“This year, more than ever, we hope with everyone’s help to continue the success of previous Swims for the benefit of our beneficiaries and our community. We thank all for choosing Provincetown for your generosity”, states Compact Director Jay Critchley.

The Swimming in Place Challenge encourages swimmers and anyone to register now and swim where they are or create a challenge for themselves. It asks participants to invite their family, friends and coworkers to support them and pledge money while they are: dancing, jogging, cooking, biking, sports in place, writing, creating - wherever and whatever works for them, in a bathtub, on the beach, in a pond or pool. Personal or team challenges are encouraged.

"The Swim for Life embodies Provincetown as a place of healing and compassion. We celebrate our community as one that not only cares about our local health and well-being, but also about Planet Earth, which faces unparalleled environmental challenges. Provincetown is a spiritual home to people across the globe. A place of hope and promise. Swimmers have come from France, Bulgaria, Australia, Mexico, Spain, UK, Canada and beyond", he continued. 

“This global pandemic has no borders. Please show your longtime love of Provincetown in our time of urgency”, he added.

In commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims in Provincetown Harbor in 1620 on the ancestral Native land of the Wampanoag Tribe, the Swim invited Native artist Duane Slick of Meskwaki Nation in Iowa, with strong ties to Provincetown, to create this year’s special 2020 Swim design.

The Provincetown Community Compact, Inc. was established in 1993 as a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization by artist Jay Critchley. It is organized as a community-building and philanthropic organization to support artists and the vitality of the community.

The mission of The Compact is to advance the health and cultural well being of the community of Provincetown and the Lower Cape – its people, the natural environment and the economy. Other Compact initiatives include: Dune Shack Residencies, the Think-ubator program, Prayer Ribbons and special projects.

The concept for The Compact was to recreate an inclusive, visionary and fully democratic contract with the community, reimagining the original Mayflower Compact, which was signed in Provincetown Harbor in 1620.

For more information contact: swim4life.org.