The Camp
The surf camp is sponsored by several local organizations and staffed by volunteers.
On this day, the waves were like baby bear’s porridge, just right for newbies to the world of hanging ten. We didn’t need those ten footers for this day’s adventure.
Leslie Weed, the founder of HEAL (Healing Every Autistic Life), and the primary sponsor for the surf camp explains: “They really crave the water. The water organizes their system, it’s relaxing to them, and the ocean is a phenomenal place to be for children with autism. It’s God’s sedative. Tt has a relaxing effect on them. It has a rhythm, and it frees their spirit. All day long they are being told where to be. They are locked in their houses, caged in their back yards. What happens here, they learn something. It does not become the desire of the instructor, it becomes the desire of the child.”
I couldn’t capture the experience in my short video, but standing there looking at the kids’ smiling faces with a joy, almost matched by the smiling faces of the volunteers that were working with the children, was like a beautiful wave washing over me. I felt blessed and grateful to witness this moment of the good in humanity. As I was standing next to one of the surf shop owners that sponsors the camp, we looked at each other grinning and both said, almost simultaneously, “What a great thing!”
If you have or know a child with autism, know that there is hope, and that there are recourses available and people that deeply care and want to help. After all, we don’t want any gnarly backdoor bomb to drill our goofy footed gremmie. We want them to have a stoked, tubular surfing life, dude!
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