Swim 4 Life, San Diego raises $40,000 for SurfAid International
(Encinitas, CA – April 18, 2007) SurfAid International’s first annual Swim 4 Life successfully concluded on March 31, 2007 at Wave House Athletic Club in Mission Beach. This day-long fundraiser joined surfers, businesses and humanitarians to enjoy friendly swim competitions, and to help save lives. This year’s Swim 4 Life brought out 90 swimmers who raised nearly $40,000 and introduced 600 new donors to SurfAid International's efforts to create lasting improvements in the health of community members living in the Mentawai Islands, Nias, and the Hinakos of Western Sumatra, Indonesia.
Participants not only had a chance to duke it out with each other in swim and paddle-board challenges, they also enjoyed excellent food and received awesome prizes for their efforts to support the humanitarian cause. Event-goers had food catered by Wahoo’s Fish Tacos and hydration from Cytomax Performance Drink. The highest fundraising team and business, GFH Boards, won Islander Sportfishing’s 7-day surf/fish boat trip, to Isla Natividad, Mexico & VIP bottle service at Downtown San Diego’s hip nightclub Stingaree. Other great prizes included custom-shaped surfboards, surfer-style skateboards, waterproof MP3 players, natural suncare products, aquarium passes, shoes, sandals, bags, surf report subscriptions, clothing, and accessories.
SurfAid thanks all fundraisers and would like to give a special thanks to Val Reynolds for being the highest individual fundraiser. For being the top fundraiser, Val wins a custom-shaped Craig Hollingsworth surfboard on Biofoam from Homeblown US right here in San Diego, in addition to the great incentive prizes from sponsors. The money raised goes towards SurfAid International in its efforts to improve the health of people living in isolated regions connected to us through surfing. It will also be a small step in furthering the United Nations 15-year Millennium Development Goals aimed at reducing extreme poverty and preventable deaths worldwide.
The original poster artwork for this 1st ever event was produced by Micaiah Hardison at Refined Applications, and is on sale at the Waveriders Gallery with proceeds to benefit SurfAid. To buy this original painting, go to www.waveridersgallery.net and look for the SurfAid logo at the bottom of the page.
Thank you to everyone for attending and making the first annual event a great success. We look forward to next year’s Swim 4 Life event and hope to see you, your friends & your colleagues at the pool to support the cause. Visit www.surfaidinternational.org/swim4life for more information on this year’s event.
Swim 4 Life was generously sponsored by Wave House Athletic Club, Cytomax Performance Drink, DivX, Wahoo’s Fish Taco, Refined Applications, GFH Boards, Simple Shoes, Beyond Coastal Sun Care, Freestyle Audio, SurfShot, Homeblown US, the Birch Aquarium, Islander Sportfishing, INT Softboards, Harry’s Coffee Shop, Bird at Southcoast, GoPro Camera and 91X.
About SurfAid International
The mission of SurfAid International, a non-profit humanitarian aid organization, is to improve the health of people living in isolated regions connected to us through surfing. Using proven, cost-effective, scalable programs, SurfAid seeks the alleviation of suffering through health programs that enhance local capacities and promote community-based, self-help solutions, guided by the aspirations of its beneficiaries. SurfAid works with 53 villages in Indonesia and over 37,000 beneficiaries through its Community Based Health Programs. In addition, 65,000 residents of the Mentawai Islands will benefit from SurfAid’s new Malaria Free Mentawai program; a 5-year effort to significantly & sustainably reduce the burden of malaria.
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