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Parents make first donation of safety robots in honor of couple who drowned

The parents of Emily MacDonald and Kory Ernster donated two E.M.I.L.Y.S to Silver Beach in St. Joseph.

ST. JOSEPH, Mich. — The effort of two parents, trying to save others from drowning in lake Michigan, took a step forward on Monday.

The parents of Emily MacDonald and Kory Ernster, the couple that drowned in South Haven in August of 2022, have donated their first beach safety robot.

Lisa Macdonald, Stephen Ernster and his wife said they hope these donations will inspire other beach communities to be proactive about drowning prevention.

As part of this year's The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project and its training, The Silver Beach County Park received two donated devices called E.M.I.LY.S.

13 ON YOUR SIDE first told you about these safety devices last month, when we spoke to Lisa MacDonald.

After grieving the loss of her daughter, MacDonald began to work with Kory’s father, Stephen, who decided to use insurance money from Kory’s life insurance policy to invest in these devices.
E.M.I.L.Y.S. stands for emergency integrated lanyard system.

This flotation device gives life guards extra time to rescue those who are drowning.

Kory's father says there are only two beach communities along lake Michigan that have lifeguards.

He hopes these donations will not only encourage other beaches to get lifeguards, but also prevent other families from experience tragedy like they did.

“We don't want any other families ever to have this pain that we're still feeling every day. And the horrible sadness that we just have. It's such a difficult thing to get over. You know, the grief of it. And they'll tell you, it never goes away. It just you just feel different. You never you never fully recover. It's never going to be something to recover from. And it's just if we can help any other families and any other people avoid the grief that we have,” said Stephen Ernster.

The parents also plan on donating devices to the City of New Buffalo.

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