Surfers get a helping hand
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
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For those in wheelchairs, traversing a sandy beach on wheels and keeping the chair safe from water damage can be a daunting, if not impossible, task.
Once a month, though, AccesSurf Hawai'i makes it a little easier, laying a 100-foot-long mat on the sand and using it as a path to push people in chairs designed for the beach right up to the ocean's edge.
The cost: almost $11,000 to purchase a chair and mat combo.
The rewards, though, have drawn 325 families to the White Plains beach at Barbers Point over the past two years for a monthly opportunity to hit the waves on adaptive surfboards and flotation devices.
Tonight, Heavywater magazine, Local Motion and Billabong are teaming up to raise money for AccesSurf, which hopes one day to be able to leave adaptive equipment at all the public beaches to make them accessible to anyone at any time.
"They could be accessible 24 hours a day without us being there," said AccesSurf founder and president Mark Marble. "We want to purchase the equipment and, in turn, donate it to a local beach site so we can leave it a better place."
The nonprofit is planning to make its first donation to Ali'i Beach Park in August.
Tonight, AccesSurf's clients might not be the only ones who benefit from donations.
The Surf Into Summer Kick-Off Party at Gordon Biersch will feature entertainment by Kapena, Lost at Sea and D.J. Eskae of Nocturnal Sound Krew, as well as a summer fashion show featuring the latest Local Motion and Billabong designs.
Heavywater magazine hosts these fundraising parties every few months, raising money for a different cause each time.
SURF INTO SUMMER KICK-OFF PARTY
8 p.m.-1:30 a.m. today
Gordon Biersch,
Aloha Tower Marketplace
$10, $15 (but wearing zebra print before 11 p.m. will get you in for $5)
Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.
