WASHINGTON (WCAX) – Senators from our region have joined with other lawmakers in asking the Trump administration to save what they call a lifesaving program for U.S. service members.

Senators Bernie Sanders, Peter Welch, and Jeanne Shaheen signed a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to continue funding for the Beyond the Yellow Ribbons program.

They say the program helps connect service members and their families to things like suicide prevention, counseling, substance use disorder treatment, and housing and employment assistance, among many others.

Sanders says in Vermont, the lack of BYR funding will force the Vermont veterans and family outreach program to shut down at the end of this month.

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An unidentified man drowned in Lake Champlain near Red Rocks Park in South Burlington Wednesday, the third reported drowning in Vermont in the span of a week.

A park visitor noticed an unresponsive man underwater near the base of the Red Rocks cliffs Wednesday night and called 911. The South Burlington dispatchers received the call at approximately 7:43 p.m., and the South Burlington Fire Department arrived around 5 minutes later, according to a South Burlington Police press release. 

Fifteen fire department first responders helped locate and retrieve the man in water 10 to 12 feet deep. No form of identification was located when the man was recovered, according to police. 

The South Burlington Police Department is seeking information regarding the man’s identity and events leading up to the drowning. There is no evidence of foul play, according to the police press release.

“The deceased is described as a white male, bald with hazel eyes and a husky build, wearing a grey T-shirt with a white-over-black stripe pattern, navy blue athletic shorts, grey socks, and Cloudrunner grey running shoes with white soles,” the press release stated. 

The South Burlington Police Department, the Burlington Fire Department, University of Vermont Rescue, Colchester Technical Rescue and the U.S. Coast Guard aided in the search and recovery. The Saint Michael’s Fire Department and off-duty South Burlington personnel monitored the city of South Burlington during the crew’s absence. 

In the press release, South Burlington police reminded the public to practice water safety, including learning and refreshing swimming skills, learning CPR and water rescue techniques, wearing U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets and supervising inexperienced swimmers. 

A Burlington High School senior Eljak Menjwak drowned at Bartlett Falls in Bristol on Saturday, and Darren Kemp, 30, drowned in Lake Champlain on Tuesday night. 

Amid a heat wave in Vermont this week, people have likely sought relief from extreme temperatures in bodies of water. The Department of Health maintains a list of more than 400 places to cool off this summer. 

Vermont State Police have identified the man who drowned Tuesday in Lake Champlain as Darren Kemp, who was originally from South Africa. 

Kemp, 30, lived and worked at Basin Harbor Club, which spans parts of Vergennes and Ferrisburgh. On Tuesday, Kemp swam in Lake Champlain near the club, but did not emerge from under the waters, according to a police press release. 

State Police received word of the drowning incident around 9:25 p.m. and reported to the scene along with the Vergennes Area Rescue Squad and the Addison, Charlotte, Ferrisburgh and Vergennes fire departments. First responders carried Kemp from the waters to shore, but efforts to revive him were not successful. 

Kemp was pronounced dead at approximately 10:10 p.m, and the Chief’s Examiner’s Office in Burlington will perform an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death. There is no evidence the drowning death is suspicious, according to police.

This is the second reported drowning in the state in the span of a week, after an 18-year old Burlington High School student Eljak Menjwak died in the New Haven River in Bristol on Saturday. 

Like other states in the East, Vermont has been hit with extreme heat, humidity and thunderstorms this past week, leading many people to seek relief in or near bodies of water.

The state’s Department of Health has identified more than 400 cooling centers where Vermonters can seek shelter from heat waves this summer.