 This is Aloha United. We stand at Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness for Hawaii. Join the conversation here at Think Tech, H.I., and that's our Twitter feed. Once again, we are with Aloha United. We stand and today we are welcoming AccessSurf Hawaii. AccessSurf is a Hawaii nonprofit that provides ocean access to anyone with a disability, and they are celebrating their 10th anniversary here in Hawaii. I'm joined by Kara Short, who is the executive director, and also Rich Julian, the co-founder, and let me get this right, an adaptive athlete. Let's start out with, again, you told me just before the show began that this is your 10th anniversary here in Hawaii. Can you tell us about what AccessSurf is, how it was founded, and what you've been able to accomplish over the last 10 years? Yeah, we started in March 2006 with AccessSurf Hawaii, and we just looked at the community and we noticed that there was no access for people with wheelchairs or disabilities or impairments to get to the beach. Growing up in Hawaii, I was a child surfing here, and then after I got injured, I noticed that there was no access to the beach and no programs to help people with disabilities get back to the water. So we started in March 2006. We founded it and saw a need in the community, and since there we've been just expanding and growing. This was here on Oahu that you started? Yes. Yes, myself and another recreational therapist and a few others from the medical community founded the organization so that it had a therapeutic background, but also filled the need for the people in the community with disabilities to get out there and access the ocean safely. Now here in Hawaii, where there is absolutely no lack of good weather, and the old adage pray for surf, we really don't have to do that here in certain times. What was it, and before your disability and now, what did the water mean to you to be there and be in the waves, whatever shore you enjoyed here? Yes, I grew up surfing canoes and I started surfing there when I was five years old. So I really grew up around the beach community in Waikiki, and at the time I just, it was really special and it was one of the things that I loved. It was what I did as a kid. I got injured when I was 14, so once I got injured I got cut off from that ocean, really. So that was one of the reasons that we needed to start access surf and get back into the water and get others back there too, because as a person living in Hawaii, you're surrounded with all these beautiful islands and all this beautiful water, and it really has its benefits therapeutically as far as getting back in there, and also as far as your self-recovery when you're, you know, after an injury or onset of a disability, it's very therapeutic and you know, you can get back to who you were before the disability. So it has a lot of different benefits other than just accessing the water. It's a spiritual thing as well. Now you had mentioned you had started this with a partner 10 years ago, you've grown, you have other organizations, other groups that have been helping you. What's it like working with all these other folks, convincing them to help you along and the growth in the last 10 years of business partners and volunteers? Carol, what's that like working with our local companies and maybe other nonprofits here? Well, I really feel like everyone is pretty excited about what we're doing, and especially if they've come out to one of our events. That's what I always say. I mean, it's great to hear what we do and see the videos and the photos, but once someone comes to one of our events, they really get it. And why it is so important, like Rich was saying, there's much more to it than just getting in the water. It's really life changing. So I find that locally, we have amazing support and usually, like I said, once someone comes out, they're like, what can we do? What can we do to help? So we often get businesses come out with their staff as volunteers and then, of course, through donations, which keeps us going. Did you have any recent events and anyone else who came out to help you folks? Yeah, actually, we had a big event during Duke's Ocean Fest. We had our International Adaptive Surfing Competition. So this year was quite a big one for us. We had 60 surfers with disabilities from nine nations come and we had several local businesses help us. Hard Rock Cafe, Aroma Cafe as well. And locally, we had a team real estate and Colbert's construction help us with that. When you're out there, when you're out with these folks, just to get back to what you said. And they see, say, one of these groups, when they see the public coming out, when they see volunteers coming out and you are working with the person who's trying to get back in the water. Did that sense of community, what does that do to their families? And from what you've seen, Julian, when you have a community coming together to remind you the water is yours, how does that make them feel? What I really noticed is it's life-changing for the volunteers as much as it is for the participants in a different way. All of us that come together, we built this family and it just spreads through the entire society I've noticed. And I think the biggest thing is it's a way for everyone to be included where there's not this excluded party. If you have a disability, you're included in the day at the beach, the time that everyone likes to spend together. And Julian, do you see that being a water person? Oh yeah, all the time. We see it all the time at AccessSurf. The volunteers that come out there, they're really coming to help and then they go home feeling just so satisfied because it is so rewarding for them to do what it is that they do out there. And we see it every single time out there over and over again with all of our different programs. So yeah, very rewarding for all of the community as participants and volunteers and business as well. And if I recall correctly, these can be people of any age. Do you see the role that being back, having your freedom in the water, do you see it affecting them the same way if they are younger, older, if they're adjusting or I have a friend who told me a dozen years, he hadn't been in the water and then he met you folks and he's just an incredible athlete today. How do you see that person from different ages going into the water and getting their freedom back? How does that affect them just personally? Yeah, well we always said from Keiki to Kapuna that anybody with disability, any kind of cognitive injuries or any problem you have, we're gonna work it out. We're gonna figure out a way to make it possible for you to get back and enjoy the ocean. So that's always been our goal is to be very inclusive with everybody and everybody can get back to the water even if they've just got a temporary injury. We'll help them out getting out for surfing if they need just a few months' help. So yeah, from all ages, all disabilities, we include everybody and our model of nonprofit has been used over and over again time and time again around the world. So we have other organizations around the world looking at AccessSurf and actually modeling their programs after the way that we care for everybody and treat everybody because it seems to be everybody loves our model. It's very inclusive for anybody that wants to get there. Whatever type of disability, cognitive, whatever it may be. So we have nonprofits in Brazil, in California, South Carolina. We have AccessSurf Okinawa. So it has really had a ripple effect as far as the model of the business. People really like that it's open and inclusive and very open-minded type of nonprofit. And again, it started here in Hawaii and it's wonderful to hear that your practices are very respected, that people want to help in these different areas. But again, you were founded here and you had mentioned to me that there are monthly events. Is that correct? That's correct, yeah. What's happening? Well, we do, we do two monthly events. So generally the first Saturday of the month, we have what we call our day at the beach. And that one is open for anyone with a disability like Rich was saying, whether you're cognitive or physical and your family to come out and enjoy the beach. But then we also do a monthly program specifically for wounded warriors to work with our injured military servicemen and women. And then quarterly, we are now working with smaller events, clinics, we're calling them surf and swim clinics, where we can actually take that concept of getting back into the water but also working with individuals to create more independence and work with their skillset that they might need. It might be maybe they just want to get comfortable putting their face under the water or maybe they're at a level of Rich and they want to improve their skills and techniques to be able to be competitive and that sort of thing. We're also a Paralympic Sports Club as well. So we're working in that vein with swimming and canoe. So who's helping when they go out here? What kind of supporters, staff, people, volunteers? What kind of resources and people are helping give back that freedom? Everybody? Yeah. Yeah, we started initially, you know, just requesting that people with EMT experience, hospital experience and medical surfers, people in the ocean industry. And it's just become so popular with our volunteers. We get people from every walk of life. And that's what's so amazing about it too. And we have in each area that we work with because we have a surfing and a swimming and then we have what we call transfers where we're getting people, you know, from the beach and into the water. So every little area has a key leader. And that leader is specific to that role. Like he was saying, maybe it's somebody with a water safety background or therapeutic background that will oversee the volunteers, but the volunteers quite literally are from throughout the island. You name it. Anybody comes out. And that's what makes it so special. And these are folks who obviously love the water. They love working with it. Sounds like they love working with you. Well, and some people don't even get in the water. That's the other thing that's really important to know. Like as a volunteer, if you are a skilled water person, great, we would love that the more than their volunteers as well. And there's always a place for somebody, whether it's helping serve a hamburger or it's just talking story with people because we'll even have participants come that might not get in the water that day. But they want to be able to come to the beach because this is their one day a month that they might be able to do so. Oh, yeah, it's a while you'll we don't want to just hang out. I find that interesting because sometimes just being around the water being around the sand having you know, being able to feel it with your fingers or your toes. That is a therapeutic feeling to if you just had a long, long day at work. Sometimes I just see people in their sedans, they drive up to the beach, they just stand there and they take that. I mean, just have you found that when you were a kid, and even now, what the beach does to you, did does it still bring that feeling, right? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, I'm all I do is think about surfing every day and waiting for days like today to do that. Yeah, it's actually a beautiful day out there today. And as soon as we're Paul, we're surfing. So I mean, yeah, we wait for days like this where the surf is good and the wind is down. And, you know, you can get out there and cleanse your mind, your body and your soul and, and just feel the healing power of the ocean. Oh, yes, to give that type of healing to somebody else is a very special thing. You know, so you know, it's it's very rewarding for ourselves. But to hand that off more about that we need to take a really short break to let folks know about the other great shows that we have here at think tech Hawaii. And we'll talk more about the therapeutic waters surf with access to it. Hey, how you doing? Welcome to a Batchie talk. My name is Andrew landing. I'm your co host. And we have a nice program here every Friday at one o'clock think tech studios where we talk about technology and we have a little bit of fun with it. So join us if you can. Thanks. Aloha. You're watching think tech Hawaii, which dreams live on think tech Hawaii. Aloha, I'm Kirsten Baumgart Turner, host of Sustainable Hawaii. Thanks for watching think tech this summer. We have a lot of terrific shows of great importance. And I hope you'll watch my show to every Tuesday at noon, as we address sustainability issues for Hawaii. They're really pertinent as the World Conservation Congress approaches in September, and the World Youth Congress that's focusing on sustainability next year as well. Have a great summer and tune in at noon every Tuesday. Lasties and laddies. This is Angus mctec in think tech Hawaii. And I'm my favorite show. He bought she talked with my good old buddies, good old the tech side and Andrew, the security guy. Please join us every Monday. No, it's Friday, every Friday from 1pm to 1.30pm here on think tech Hawaii. And you can also find us on YouTube. He bought she talked Aloha. Aloha, welcome back. I'm Chris Aguinaldo. And this is Aloha United. We stand we're talking with Access Surf Hawaii. And again, this is Kara short, the executive director and Rich Julian just before the break. I was talking to Rich, who's a co founder here, but they really a healing power of the ways he cannot explain it. If you are able to go out to the waves or the water, no matter where you are, it's 20 minutes away. Go out there, take a breath and know that that can heal you. This is not hyperbole. We're not exaggerating this because some of the people who have been hurt the most have given service to our country. Those who need help. They can help themselves by going to the ocean. And you had mentioned just before the break that you have, is this a monthly wounded warrior program? Is this a what is this program about? Who is it available to? How long has it been around? Though I believe the wounded warrior program started in 2011. I might be correct. So and it is actually we do it monthly and we do. We rotate locations but it's always at the beach. Sometimes we have an event in Waikiki and sometimes it's at White Plains and it's open to any injured service man or woman. Generally we tend to work with the different bases and their transition units or with the wounded warrior project. We work a lot with them but really it is open to anyone that is injured service man or woman. And what we get, what we hear from the feedback from that is a lot of people that attend that particular day. They suffer from post traumatic stress or traumatic brain injury. We are also some physical injuries but a lot of PTS and traumatic brain injury and that like you were saying that healing power of the ocean is just incredible. What we hear a lot is that it's their minds can be quiet for the first time since their injury or since their trauma and that's just incredible and so that that's why that program is so important and we are excited about and it's grown so much over the last few years. How has it been received from, you said you've got some positive feedback. What do you hear from participants, not only the participants who are trying to help but the folks who are trying to help them. We've talked about how your volunteers are so important. How do they respond to these veterans and service members who are just trying to be, you know, trying to be people who just enjoy the water again, huh? What have you seen there? Yeah, we just see amazing things when the Wounded War Clinic, I mean, you come down there and it's just such an honor to be helping out somebody who's dedicated so much of their heart and soul to our country and just to be down there and see them get back into the water and reconnect, bring their family down there and have a normal day where they can get back to the ocean and hang out with their family and not worry about all the, you know, the problems that they face in everyday life, you know, with brain injuries and also physical disabilities as well. So yeah, just seeing them, you know, lifting them up the way that they've carried us is just an honor to have that program there for them monthly. It's a tremendous effect for them. So you have those two events. Earlier you had mentioned the day at the beach where family Ohada, our people can go out there it's their day to enjoy. And quarterly clinics as well, does that change up? Do you have community partners or business partners when your quarter of clinics? What are those focused on? Well, the one is a swim clinic and one is a surf clinic. And so which are that's a little bit alternating in that schedules a little bit fluid at the moment, but we have been able to host several of them. And yeah, we're always looking for someone who does want to partner to help us sponsor that event. Either it be just a straight donation so that we can offer that or maybe perhaps host the lunch for it. We always try to have a lunch for the participants and the volunteers. So there's many ways that people can can work with us. Again, hard rock. They've always been a big support of our events and in particular our swim clinics. Anyone else besides hard rock who's stepped up to the plate? Yeah, actually, we were very excited earlier this year. Surf go Hawaii gave us. We're part of a program that they ran. And I believe they chose 10 nonprofits and we were one of the 10 and they gave a $25,000 donation, which was very life changing for all of us. That really made a very big difference for us. So what people do you have when you say helping us? Who's out there for you day to day as part of your staff or volunteers? That's what's fascinating to me is what's happened over the last 10 years with the growth and what has happened. And we're almost largely volunteer based. I'm the only full time employee and we have two people part time assisting and the rest is a volunteer based and it's unbelievable. We have committees and leadership roles and training and because what happens at the beach? That's just that day. We have all month to prepare for that. Planning, coordinating and doing special events. We also do. We're kind of always doing special events as well. As we mentioned earlier, the event of Duke's Ocean Fest, that was quite undertaking. That was a 10 day event that I think we had something like 60 volunteers to make that happen. And at our day at the beach, for example, we'll have a hundred to 150 volunteers and we need every one of them. It's quite unbelievable. And now, did you anticipate when about 10 years ago Rich that this would be what it is today? When I'm hearing her say all these people come out, you've got corporate volunteerism, you've got people coming in just being part of your regular one. Did you anticipate this happening? You know, it's just very, very humbling and very, um, very awesome to see what's happened over the last 10 years. You know, access service really creating a legacy here. And, you know, we've always looked up to do Conomoku as our leader, ambassador of Aloha. And we've always kind of followed that motto with everything that we do with access serve. So to see access serve provide that kind of opportunity for people like with disabilities around the world, not just in Hawaii, around the world. It's very humbling and we hope to leave a long legacy here and have many different programs and stay around for the next 50 to 100 years. You know, so yeah, it's very humbling and very honored to be a part of it and see what it's become. We have so many different programs now when we started it was just one program. Now we've got a handful of them and more coming. So how do you like it when you see these folks? They may be tentative, but then they get so driven. You yourself, you said you just said, I'd rather be surfing if I could. A lot of us would rather do that, but then you see the ones who want to improve and really get out there and their power strong and you saw that from the very beginning when maybe they had to just dip a small part of themselves in the world. How does that feel just as a person and also as a fellow surfer, fellow caner, fellow athlete? Yeah, I mean reconnecting with the ocean and with your community is definitely, you know, a huge important part of getting back to yourself. So yeah, like for myself, it was very, I always called my rebirth when I reconnected with the water, it was just like, okay, you know, I had a disability, I had an injury, I lost a lot, but this is who I really am. This is what I really, this is really what makes me happy in life. So to see that in somebody else's eyes and to see a volunteer give that to somebody else is just truly humbling and you just go home with, you know, just thinking about it the whole time you're driving. And then how about the ones who are really driven? Like you had mentioned to me, is this correct? There's an adaptive surf team? What's up with them? Well, what are they accomplishing? Yeah, so they're breaking down barriers. Yeah, they're traveling. Yeah, what's happening? Yeah, ASP, here we come. What is ASP for our viewers? Well, okay, so we've been partnering with Duke's Ocean Fest for like about the last, I think, almost 10 years now. And they they offered us the opportunity to do an exact adaptive exhibition at Duke's Ocean Fest. And we started with six surfers all with different disabilities, quadriplegic, deafness, paraplegics, amputees. And so we started off with six guys doing an exhibition at Duke's Ocean Fest. And now we've grown over the last 10 years over 60 competitors from all around the world. The rest of the world is really looking at accessor from what they're doing. And they're actually starting to duplicate our competition here around the world. So recently in August with Duke's Ocean Fest, we hosted over 60 athletes. And we had a deaf division. We had a prone division, a sit upright division, an amputee division, a wounded warrior division. So so to see that program grow and and be as strong as it is today, we're really honored to be partnered with them and doing that can, you know, be their 10 year anniversary. And we do have locally that like we're just saying an adaptive surf team and they train regularly and they compete regularly as well at the local circuit, the Hawaii Surfing Association HOSSA. And then now the ISA, which is the International Surfing Association, which is the world governing body of surfing, they hosted last year their very first adaptive surfing world championships, which was unbelievable. And now this year, well, of course, this year is happening again in December. So we have a team of, I believe seven traveling this year. Oh, San Diego to Los Angeles. Oh, wow. That must be something to be part of, you know, to be a surfer from Hawaii. That's you expect like the world class surfers to be here, but to be part of just a team that has done so much with supportive people that must really, for your athletes on the team, that must make them feel good. How do you feel when you see them achieve this much? Yeah, I mean, some of the Hawaii adaptive adaptive athletes just have so much hard. It's incredible to be standing there on a beach with them and and cheering them on. They bring a lot of the Hawaiian spirit to the mainland and carry the flag. And, you know, we bring gifts and the whole the whole thing. And it's just amazing. They really want to represent Hawaii well and, you know, just be as competitive as possible and show what the adaptive athletes can do in the water. So and being able to be our own, you know, entity here in Hawaii and be do that is pretty awesome. And again, these are these are just regular folks. It can be any when I when I say that it's just it could be any disability. We're all people. We're just all people. And what you folks are doing is making sure everyone from me to you to you. We have access to a water for families or friends and that your organization is one of those keeping an eye out and making sure that if anybody wants to get into the water, you can. 10 years of that. I know you are very proud of that. What are some room for growth that you see? Either one of you in the next 10 years or so. My mind is bursting with all the things that you can do. Okay, let's hit next year. What's happening next year? Well, actually, I just think that just general growing of the programs that we have. But what we would love to see is more beach access, just permanent access so that anyone can enjoy the ocean at any time. They don't have to attend one of our programs. So that's one thing we'd like to work with the city and county with and they've been very receptive to. We just hoped to move forward with that. But I think that's one of the main goals. But also just if we could increase our amount of programs, it just means there's more accessibility and then people can regain more independence. And we can learn more at your website, which is again, accesssurf.org. Again, I've been talking to Access Surf Hawaii. And I'm with Rich and Kara. And you can tune in next week for another Aloha Unitive We Stand where we're talking to organizations that make a difference here in Hawaii. And you can always join the conversation here at thinktech Hawaii at thinktech.hi on Twitter. Thank you to thank you for sharing about your programs. And thank you for everyone watching Aloha.