In August, Surfrider partnered with Ayudando Latinos A Soñar, or ALAS, and City Surf Project, to host 4 days of surf camp in August for 15 kids who had never been on a surfboard. ALAS, a Latino-centered non-profit in Half Moon Bay, was gifted money from a donor to buy 10 surfboards and 10 wetsuits. The intent was to use the boards and wetsuits to get ALAS family kids out in the water surfing.
Surfrider pulled together City Surf, ALAS, and Surfrider members to get on the beach, suit up, get in the water, and teach the kids how to surf. City Surf did an amazing job bringing gear, instructors, and leading the entire event. Their effort was beyond huge! Our chapter members also stepped up and participated in a big way. As Ray Mueller, a Surfrider member who helped with the event put it, "We had a freaking awesome day! You should have seen the looks on these kids' faces. The high schoolers and middle schoolers were trying to get up, and there were little ones learning to boogie board."
After the camp, Dr. Belinda Hernandez Arriaga, Founder and Director of ALAS, reported that one little girl's mom said, “Every day Ashley drives by and sees the ocean on her way to school and she says, ‘Mom, I wish I could learn how to surf like them,' as she looked out the window to Surfer's beach. Because of you, her dream came true!”