The town of Surfside Beach hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Loaner Life Jacket Program under the fishing pier on Wednesday, Oct. 29.
The Loaner Life Jacket Program is in collaboration with Safe Kids Pee Dee/Coastal to promote safe beach recreation allowing individuals to borrow and return life jackets displayed on a yellow stand under the Surfside Beach Pier.
“This is improving safety for the youngest kids on the beach; those that are most vulnerable who can easily get caught up in the surf. It’s just a nice safety initiative and it really instills the values of The Family Beach,” Surfside Beach Mayor Robert Krouse said.
The Surfside Beach Fire Department’s Senior Captain Chauncey Kelley has been leading the safety initiative in collaboration with Safe Kids Pee Dee/Coastal.
“We really try to protect our children the best we can. Being the Family Beach we really focus on family aspects and we wanted to be able to provide a safe, fun environment for people when they vacation,” Kelley said, adding four drownings have occurred in 2025.
Adult, child and youth sizes are available and a QR code is on the display that can be scanned to explain how to properly size and fit a life jacket to a child. Kelley said the project began over a year ago and is opening at the end of October due to the timing of the planning commission’s approval and grant approvals.
Officials from Safe Kids Pee Dee/Coastal and Surfside Beach hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Life Jacket Loaner Program on Wednesday, Oct. 29.
Despite the late date, the city decided to proceed. “We wanted to get them out as soon as we could,” Kelley said.
Safe Kids Pee Dee/Coastal Coordinator Angela Dillon said Safe Kids is a program designed to educate families on unintentional injuries and supply materials to the families in need.
“This is the only one right now that is down here in Horry County. I’m super excited about that and I’m excited that the town of Surfside gave us the opportunity to do that,” Dillon said.
She said she hopes to add more. “There’s been some discussions on putting up a few more down the coast here. We’ve got three done this year; I hope we’re able to get three done next year.”
The life jackets are purchased through a Honda grant of $57,000 for water safety initiatives, Dillon said.
“It also helped us with bicycle helmets, car seats for children. So, we just kind of expanded the water safety world especially down here at the coast because we had seen that there was pretty big need,” Dillon. “This Honda grant has given us the opportunity to be able to start this water safety program and continue to grow it.”
There is not a method to monitor returns, but Dillon said if someone does take a life jacket home, they must need it.
