Local Teens Get Free Surf Lesson To Encourage A Healthy Lifestyle (VIDEO!)
Free Surf Day Offered to Teens of Girls Inc Carpinteria Eureka! Program
In 2014 the Surf Happens Foundation began funding free community outreach surfing days to local youth who could benefit from a day of physical activity outdoors. A year later SHF has had the privilege of hosting 7 individual days serving approximately 160 local youth from lower-income communities, and children affected by cancer and their families. This past week SHF sponsored a free surf day for 15 teen girls from the Girls Inc of Carpinteria Eureka! Program.
Girls Inc Eureka! Program is a five-year college bound program that encourages girls to participate in science, technology, engineering, math, and sports. The surf day served as an opportunity to experience a new sport and new way of interacting with the ocean. The day included a comprehensive lesson in ocean safety, tide/wind/swell knowledge, and surfing history. Each participant suited up and was taken out with an instructor to catch their first ever waves. The day also included lunch generously donated by Whole Foods, along with an ocean stewardship presentation followed by a beach cleanup.
The goal of these days is to engage youth in a new way of viewing the world that will take them out of the norm and inspire a healthy lifestyle.