'Agricultural specialisterne': rural employment revolution for those with Autism

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My last two posts have focused on the Best Day Foundation, an organisation that provides outdoor adventures like surfing and snowplay to kids with special needs (including those with Autism Spectrum Disorders). The Best Day Foundation was actually created by two long-time volunteers of another nonprofit, Max Montgomery and Brooks Lambert, who wished to bring services like the award-winning Ride-a-Wave Foundation to other communities.

The Ride-a-Wave Foundation is a Santa Cruz, California-based organisation that helps kids with special needs (including those with Autism Spectrum Disorders) build confidence and self-esteem through safe, fun, adventure activities like surfing, bodyboarding, kayaking, snow-tubing, and more.

Here is more on the Ride-a-Wave Foundation from Susan Walton, author of the book ‘Coloring Outside Autism’s Lines’…

…We had been slowly acclimating our son (who is seriously affected by autism) to the beach, trying to work through the sensory challenges. I looked around online and learned about the Ride a Wave Foundation based in Santa Cruz. It was a fateful moment when I fired off an email wondering if our special needs parent group could work with them.

Faster than I could have imagined, twenty of our children with various challenges of all different ages assembled on the beach for our first day of surf camp. Our families cheered as the kids had an experience that smashed the limits of their disabilities and put endless smiles on their faces. It was difficult to know who had a better day, the campers or the parents.

Since then, parents from our group have gathered annually for a day of surf camp with Ride a Wave. We marvel at their incredible organization on the beach, their attention to safety and dedication to fun. But perhaps most of all, we marvel at the volunteers.

These men and women, some of whom are firefighters and coast guards in their ‘day jobs,’ throw all their energy into giving our kids with special needs the time of their life. To them, there is no challenge so great as to exclude surfing.

…The Ride a Wave volunteers are organized into teams, with Buddies on the beach and Surfers in the water. Parents tend to interact more with the Buddies, because each child is paired with one for the day. The Surfers spend the day in the water, taking kids in wetsuits and full safety gear out to catch waves…

Here is a link to a video, created by Ali Samieivafa, giving viewers a real close-up look at some of the Ride-a-Wave Foundation’s great work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw70sLRnUHY

(sources: Best Day Foundation Business Profile on PRLog (bestday); Surfing with Special Needs | Laura Shumaker | an SFGate.com blog)