On a Saturday night in February, on the heels of back-to-back blizzards that had most people cocooned in their homes in flannel and fleece, 65 people braved the cold in tuxedos and cocktail dresses to attend a wine tasting.

The event, held at Adrian and Jen Goldszmidt's Ellicott City home, raised more than $3,000 for the newly created Lucky Duck Foundation Inc.

Founded by Ellicott City residents Marty and Tara Girch, the nonprofit group seeks to raise money for swimming lessons for children with special needs. The couple are owners of the MarTar Swim School, which operates out of Lifetime Fitness, in Columbia.

"One of the things we always noticed was that with parents of children with special needs, it's a 24/7 job," Marty said, adding that many of the couple's friends are such parents. "We understand their needs."

Marty, 48, and Tara, 40, have spent their lives in water.

Tara joined her first swim team at 3 years old. Marty "was swimming as soon as he learned to walk," Tara said. "He's never left the pool."

After meeting 13 years ago, they began to teach lessons at YMCAs.

She has an undergraduate degree in physical education and a master's degree in special education.

The couple began to offer swimming lessons in 1999, specializing in children with disabilities ranging from autism to attention hyper deficit disorder, Down syndrome or visual or auditory impairment.

A year of swimming lessons costs about $2,000, Marty said.

As much as the children benefit from the time in the pool, so, too, do the parents, Marty said.

"When they come here, it is therapeutic to them. They feel like they have someone helping with their child."

Mar Tar leases pool time from Lifetime Fitness for lessons, but the couple's goal is to have their own facility where children with special needs could go for lessons and physical therapy.

When they are not teaching swimming, Marty works full-time as a Department of Defense contractor while Tara teaches physical education and health at the Laurel Juvenile Detention Center.

Other Lucky Duck Foundation fundraisers in the works include a backyard cookout and silent auction June 5 at the Girches' home and open swims at Lifetime Fitness, where families would pay $10 for use of the pool for three hours.

"We want to build a one-shop stopping facility specializing in children with special needs," Tara said. "The big picture is always in the back of our mind."

Benefits of swimming

Jen Goldszmidt, a related arts teacher at Mayfield Woods Middle School, in Elkridge, said her family has seen firsthand the benefits that time in the pool can have on children with special needs.

Before her 8-year-old autistic daughter, Zoe, began swimming lessons with the Girches, the child had tremendous coordination problems, her mother said.

Since Zoe was 3, her parents were told to be sure she was engaged in some type of extracurricular physical activity such as swimming or gymnastics. But getting Zoe to follow directions and maintain enthusiasm for an activity was always problematic, Goldszmidt said.

"Water is always something that she has been attracted to and enthusiastic about, but once she was in the water, we lost control of her," Goldszmidt said. "Mar Tar changed all of that."

Now her daughter takes direction in the pool or at a beach.

"I don't have the kind of desperate fear that I used to have," Goldszmidt said.

MarTar's instructors have taught Zoe how to blow bubbles in the water, float on her back and kick her feet to propel herself through the water.

"To anyone else these things may not seem like a big deal, but to the mother of an autistic child, it's huge," Goldszmidt said. "All of these things involve trust, communication and coordination."

Swimming students also develop a trusting relationship with the instructors.

"They get very enthusiastic about her progress. It makes me feel like I have a partner in moving my child forward," Goldszmidt said.

So grateful is Goldszmidt to the Girches that the family offered to host the wine-tasting fundraiser in their home Feb. 13.

"Just giving them a check is not enough," Goldszmidt said. "I wanted to show other people the value of supporting this kind of organization."

Goldszmidt said swimming has become one of Zoe's favorite activities and has met with other parents of autistic children who would benefit from the lessons, but have trouble paying for them.

Zoe "can't do things other kids her age can do, but she can swim like a fish and she loves it," Jen Goldszmidt said. "I would do anything I could do to offer this to other parents who do not have the resources I have."

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user comments (4)

user smiller says...

Marty and Tara have taught both my boys who do not have special needs to swim. And, the results have been amazing. The skills that MarTar Swimming brings benefits all children. However, what they are able to do for the special needs community is nothing short of phenomenal.

Posted 8:15 AM, 03.12.10 | Permalink

user pam2kanab says...

Tara and Marty have taught both my boys to swim too - and it's been fantastic. My boys were both diagnosed on the autistic spectrum when they learned to swim. There are so many daily challenges for children with autism, many ways that the kids just don't fit in with their peers - but thanks to Marty and Tara swimming doesn't have to be one of them! The knowledge and patience that Tara and Marty showed while teaching my boys was appreciated so much more than they could ever know. I wish all kids with autism could learn to swim with MarTar Swimming.

Posted 3:46 PM, 03.14.10 | Permalink

user sfutado says...

i volunteer for lucky duck. it's great to work in the water and very relaxing. i work with special ed. kids in the howard co. schools and this is just an extension of seeing the whole child--academic and social.

Posted 6:01 PM, 03.15.10 | Permalink

user truetts says...

Tara, Marty and several members of the MarTar family have taught our son since 2007. Initially, our son was afraid of the pool. Now, he loves swimming and other water-related activities. Tara and Marty are professional and dedicated instructors. In addition, they are committed to to helping special needs children and their families.

Posted 10:01 PM, 03.23.10 | Permalink