Jon Rose: How to Drink the Amazon River
The advent of social media has given power to the people in terms of charitable giving and we here at Athlebrities love this new ‘Vote for a Cause’ initiative from Cultivate Wines. The company already donates 10% of sales to causes related to education and basic human needs and they’ve just kicked it up a notch. Continue reading
Since 2009, Waves for Water, (W4W) has been applying pragmatic solutions to the belief that everyone should have access to clean water. Founder and pro-surfer Jon Rose and partner Christian Troy teamed up with Hurley International to start the Clean Water Couriers DIY program, where surfers and travelers to third world countries can deliver portable water purification kits to impoverished areas.
Professional surfers Greg Long, Chilean native Ramon Navarro, and Kohl Christensen have all couriered water filters, giving more than 100,000 people access to clean water. Continue reading
Gerard Butler Rescued From Waves at Mavericks
Butler, who plays the lead role as Pleasure Point surfer Frosty Henson in the film, has little surf experience, and knowing that big wave surfing at Mavericks is not for everyone, I can only say thank god for jet-skis and next time, hopefully he’ll make better use of his abs? Continue reading
A Wounded Warrior Who Could Out-Surf Kelly Slater?
Holiday Surfboards for Healing
The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel Fourth Annual Holiday Surfboard Auction runs through December 31 with proceeds going to Surfers Healing in order to support children with Autism.
Boards up for bids include those from: Greg Noll, Anthony Kiedis, Robb Havassy, Sage Vaughn, Steve Wan, Tim Armstrong, Wyland , NCIS, Donavon Frankenreiter, Dustin Barca, Elizabeth Laul Healey, GMac, Wingnut, Greg Long, Hurley, Joe Aaron, Joel Parkinson, PT, Makua Rothman, Andy Irons, Skip Fry, Sons of Anarchy, and Ke11y Slater.
As always, thanks for reading~
delinda@athlebrities.com
Celebrities and Athletes Endorse a ‘Natural High’
Not Your Parent’s Anti-Drug Campaign
The NH Program, DVD series, Youtube channel and on-line community hail in comparison to the outdated and ineffective Just Say No or egg in a frying pan campaigns of drug-abuse prevention past. If you’re expecting dramatic voice-overs, or a drug crazed youth overdosing on a bathroom floor, under bad lighting, then you are in for a disappointment.
Sundt has assembled an exceptional group of creative individuals from various industries ranging from motocross to fashion design. With names like Tony Hawk, Anna Rawson of the LPGA and X-Games gold medalist Travis Pastrana and Paul Rodriguiez involved, NH has been able to demonstrate how these individuals have been able to consistently set standards in their own industries. MTV reality star, turned fashion designer, Lauren Conrad, and professional skateboarder Terry Kennedy share a very raw and authentic point of view in their PSA’s on why they have chosen to stay away from alcohol and drugs in order to pursue their natural high, which has led them to prosperous careers. Award winning director, cinematographer and father of two, Josh Landan, (who also directed NH 3) is thrilled to be part of putting such a positive message out there and would love for his own kids to be able to watch this video in school.
“Drugs kill dreams!” – Unknown
-Jessica Hernandez
jessicah@athlebrities.com
Surfers for Cetaceans: ‘Minds in The Water’
If ocean minded people are to pass on a sustainable culture then they must become responsible stewards of their coastal environment
~ Dave Rastovich
An amazing organization called ‘Surfers for Cetaceans’ has been making waves towards saving our sea-life and will be in the house for a kick-off screening of their documentary ‘Minds in The Water’ on Sept 29in Santa Barbara. (More dates here)
The film, which was critically received at its original North American premire in August, was backed by the Humane Society of the United States as the Festival’s Official Opening Night NGO Partner.
“The surfing community has such deep roots in Southern California,” said the films director Justin Krumb, “and so many people here care about the issues the oceans face, that we feel it’s an amazing opportunity to showcase what a few motivated people can accomplish with passionate determination.”
Rastovich hopes the film will inspire surfers around the world to take a deeper look at how they can do their part “to resolve human-created problems that exist in our most cherished aspect of life, namely the ocean.”
Considered me moved Rasta Dave.
As always, thanks for reading~
delinda@athlebrities.com
Surfers for Cetaceans (S4C) is committed to activating ocean-minded people everywhere to support the conservation and protection of whales, dolphins and their habitat. It’s through compassion, awareness, education, media and dedicated interventions that we operate. We seek to be a human voice for and defender of cetaceans worldwide. Co-founded in 2004 by Australian surfers/activists Dave Rastovich and Howie Cooke, S4C has grown worldwide, with offices in California and a grass roots following in Europe and South America.
Surfers, Celebrities and Liquid Nation Ball 8
SIMA’s 8th Annual Liquid Nation Ball went down last night in La Jolla where hundreds of surf industry peeps gathered to honor ‘Keep a Breast’ co-founder and CEO Shaney jo Darden as the 2011 SIMA Humanitarian of the Year.
The event, held at the ocean front home of Fernando Aguerre, is the official fundraiser for the SIMA Humanitarian Fund which benefits 13-surf related humanitarian organizations.
For those out of the ‘Keep a Breast’ loop, Shaney jo is a powerhouse, coining the phrase ‘I Love Boobies’ while making serious strides towards raising awareness among the next generation about breast cancer and putting ‘faces’ to the cause via their ‘Image If’ there were no cancer campaign.
“The thing I love most about it is we do it all over the world,” Darden told me during the event. “You see this cross-section of people, mostly young people, all nationalities, all different social, economical backgrounds, and you really see their face and their one little sentence of how they’ve been impacted, it’s so powerful.”
Indeed. TV host Sal Masekela, who is a staple among the surf ‘tribe’ described his good friend Shaney as an angel. And I could see why…she was dismayed that people were there to recognize her. “It’s not just about me, that what’s weird. I’m getting this award but it’s a collective thing with thousands of people who’ve been supporting my dream and vision. My team and brands work so hard, it’s definitely a collective thing.”
As mentioned, AccesSurf was in the house. Based in Oahu and backed by such celebrities as Jimmy Buffet, the organization assists people with disabilities explore their own level of performance in the ocean environment. CEO Mark Marble, along with co-founder Richard Julian and an AccesSurf athlete, spoke to me about the program and its upcoming goals, “We are actually training athletes now to go into competition and hope to start entering mainstream able-bodied competitions so our challenged athletes can compete in their own heats against their own level of ‘ability’, not disability, and they can showcase what they’re doing.”
I daresay those who partake in AccesSurf’s adaptive surf programs could most likely out-surf most of their competitors-able bodied or not. Mad props to this amazing organization for giving back to the people of Oahu and enriching lives in ways you can’t even imagine. Check em HERE and look for much more about them in future posts.
Also thanks to Michael Realpeople for his wicked photog skills and Miss Match clothing in San Diego for proving my wardrobe.
As always, thanks for reading~
delinda@athlebrities.com
SIMA: Established in 2006, the SIMA Humanitarian Fund was created to serve as the humanitarian arm of the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association by raising money from the public through fundraisers and solicitations. The SIMA Humanitarian Fund uses these funds to promote and support surf or boardsport related social and humanitarian non-profit organizations whose efforts are focused on improving the quality of life, health, and/or welfare of people.
AccesSurf empowers people with disabilities by providing adaptive surfing instruction and therapeutic educational programs on water recreation and enriches lives by assisting families to access the beach and ocean in a barrier free environment.
The Keep A Breast Foundation™ is a 501© (3) non-profit organization. Our mission is to help eradicate breast cancer by exposing young people to methods of prevention, early detection and support. Through art events, educational programs and fundraising efforts, we seek to increase breast cancer awareness among young people so they are better equipped to make choices and develop habits that will benefit their long-term health and well-being.
Bethany Hamilton & Friends Changing the World?
‘Life can be beautiful for each of us if we look for that beauty. Life is also different for each of us; and we need to realize that. I think that it’s important to find the beauty in yourself and the people around you, and to be thankful for what you do have!’ –Bethany Hamilton
Hamilton is a 21-year-old surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack eight years ago. Most people would have given up, but Bethany returned to professional surfing with her story documented in the movie ‘Soul Surfer.’ Bethany has been using her fame to help others through her ‘Friends of Bethany’ Foundation and was nominated for a Do Something Award earlier this year. (Great interview with her HERE)
And this morning, Hamilton, along with actress Anna-Sophia Robb, were in New York as part of the BGC 7th Annual Global Charity Day. Hamilton’s Foundation (FOBH) is one of the recipients this year event that sees BGC’s offices around the world help raise over $10 million for charity.
Bethany supports a number of non-profits, and we here at Athlebrities are so proud to add her to our growing list of young do-gooders who prefer to inspire and give-back rather than tweet about pop-gossip.
As always, thanks for reading~
delinda@athlebrities.com
Bravest v Finest Surf Challenge
“Its been an amazing week…we almost didn’t have the contest last week and then it all came together, I’m stoked for Owen, congratulations, first win,” said Slater when accepting his $100k second place purse, “I think we might have a little surfing out here tomorrow with firefighters versus the policeman…my mom was a firefighter so I might be on their side.”
Huh? Who? What? Where? After a little research into Slater’s ‘charity-drop-mention’ I found some information regarding the ‘Bravest vs. Finest Surf Competition’ being held September 10 in NY.
Apparently, members of the NY Police department will battle against members of the NY Fire department to see who are the better surfers. Quiksilver has held a few events in New York in efforts to give back, for example on September 3, the Waterman Wall St. Challenge pitted Wall Street companies against each other to find the best surfers on Wall Street in an invite-only challenge…also, on September 11, there will be a Benefit Concert and a Memorial Paddle Out. More info is apparently available on the QuiksilverPro website, although I can NOT find enough info to satisfy my ‘need-to-know-everything-charity-related-about-surfers’ mind.
Great story here as well about firefighters and police surfing at 2011 World Police and Fire Games which wrapped up on September 5.
As always, thanks for reading~
delinda@athlebrities.com
