The mother of a 6-year-old that tragically drowned at Liberty Lake Day Camp in Burlington County Monday said her son was so excited for camp that he slept with his goggles on the night before.
“Someone asked me how my day was going and I told them about Michael and how Michael fell asleep the night before with his goggles on, and he was excited about swimming and then my phone rang and I was told I needed to rush to Mount Holly-Virtua,” Enjoli Stewart, the mother of Michael Stewart, told CBS News.
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Her son, 6-year-old Michael Stewart was found unconscious in a shallow pool by a lifeguard Monday around 2 p.m. at Liberty Lake Day Camp in Bordentown.
The lifeguard performed CPR on the boy until he was taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.
Messages left for Stewart from NJ Advance Media were not immediately returned Wednesday.
Stewart told CBS News that her son was eager about everything and was a miracle himself having been born prematurely at 23 weeks.
“Michael was in a rush to get into this world,” Stewart told CBS News. “Michael was born at 23 weeks. He was a pound, 3 ounces.”
Stewart’s son expected to enter first grade in the Lumberton Township School District in September. Monday was the first day of summer camp and Stewart’s son was part of the camp’s inclusion program for students with special needs, the camp’s owner Andy Pritkin told 6abc.com.
'I am so saddened, upset,' Pritkin said. 'I am so sorry this happened.'
Fundraising efforts to support the family have begun over the past 24 hours as a local non-profit, Return Kindness reached out to the Lumberton Township police department to partner in helping.
“A member from Return Kindness reached out to the department and asked if they could put something together,” Lumberton Township Police Chief Anthony Nippins said Wednesday. “They said that Michael had a lemonade stand two weeks ago and thought it was a great way to remember him and support his family.”
The lemonade stand will be hosted on Saturday, June 29 at the Old Fire House on Main Street in Lumberton and all proceeds will go directly to the family.
'We’re just looking to do what we can do as a community to support a family in a time of need,' Nippins said.
Nippins said that Return Kindness also recommended starting a GoFundMe campaign for the family.
The Lumberton Township Police FOP lodge #201 launched the GoFundMe and has already raised over $21,000 toward a $30,000 goal from over 400 donors.
“Michael was a resident of Lumberton, and our entire Police Department mourns the loss of such a young and inspiring life,” the description in the campaign reads. “Our prayers are with the Stewart family in this time of grief.”
The FOP also announced in a Facebook post Wednesday that a portion of the proceeds on orders from customers who say 'Lumberton Strong' while ordering at Johnny Longhots in Hainsport between now and Sunday, June 30 will be donated to the Stewart family.
“It stinks that we can only do so much and I hope that what we can raise helps the family in some small way,” Vice President of the FOP and Lumberton township police officer Steve Solovey said.
Solovey said that Lodge 201, which only represents Lumberton Township police officers, was virtually unanimous in mobilizing to help the Stewart family as best they could.
“We don’t have stuff like this happen very often here, and since many of our officers have young families I think this incident hit close to home for many of them,” Solovey said.
-by Matthew Enuco
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