On Friday we heard from Mark and Kerry how their brilliant community work commenced, and it was a revelation. Mark's group started out with a small group of surfers (3) getting together to help with wheelchairs and the like to grow into a group running "legends of Surfing" lunches and the like raising over $100,000 for kids and mums in need. Then NDIS came along and Mark and his team took on board helping out with the things that NDIS does not support that make life that little bit more bearable for those who need a bit of help. Interestingly Mark and his team are now turning their attention to mental health issues and helping out in that area.
Mark's team will be running an amazing raffle on Sunday from their kiosk showcasing a hand made surfing board. And dont forget the "online" raffle is available from their website.
Also on Friday Mark mentioned that his team were now running a kids minibus to help parents with disabled kids get to the hospital and other treatment areas without having to negotiate the numerous buses that are needed from the Coast to get to them.
At that point, Dean Stuart, who is a great supporter of many community groups on the coast came to the rescue with a generous offer to service the kids bus!...Thankyou Dean, you're a champion.
The IT gremlins contrived to defeat Kerry with his talk on the genesis of Salty Souls. Here is a couple (Tamara & Kerry) who have turned a 2017 family tragedy into a legacy for "disengaged kids" and boosting their self worth through surfing programs, and most importantly lifting kids up and setting them on the right course to be good citizens. The Covid year has been a challenge for Kerry and Tamara but though it all they have been able to run programs of kids (5-17yo) taking around 16-18 kids at a time and running refreshers and the like. Actually they have 35 kids organised for 3rd October, so they'll have work cut out there.
As always with Kerry, you feel the passion for helping kids and when he tells the personal stories, it is truly inspiring what the Salty Souls team does. Very happy to support these two great community causes.
..And our major sponsor Dean from Cricks Volkswagen joined us for breakfast and stayed on to hear how preparations are going for the Surf Show and Shine.
Dean's crew will also be escorting the Kombis on Th eSaturday Parade, which is promising to be quite something with a Cavalcade of Kombis (is that the collective noun ?) heading up and down the beach front to generate interest for the AMAZING Sunday show.
