‘Surf for Impact’ raises nearly $40,000 for adaptive surfers

Voit Real Estate Services and Alkaline Advisors hosted the ‘Surf for Impact’ event in San Diego on Friday to raise money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF). The surfing program through the Challenged Athletes Foundation aims to support adaptive surfers by providing equipment and mentorship.

The CAF has been in existence for 30 years and its mission is to provide athletes with physical disabilities the opportunity to live an active life through competitive sports and fitness.

According to Fox 5 San Diegothe event saw almost 50 surfers. One participating surfer, Sarah Bettencourt, told the news source: “This fire, this passion ignites in me again and I can adapt the way I do this activity, I can adapt the equipment and most importantly, I can adapt my mindset to to accept who I am now, and I accept help and achieve everything I want to do by changing just those few things.”

Bettencourt, now retired, was serving in the United States Marine Corps when she received a life-changing diagnosis that ended her military career. The neurological condition she suffered from often causes her motor skills to deteriorate. As a surfer, this was terrible news for Bettencourt. However, while working with the Challenged Athletes Foundation, she felt supported and was able to continue her adventures.

‘Surf for Impact’ co-founder Brian Fischer stated: “San Diego is filled with such a tight-knit community of surfers and we found that this might be the only city where we could make this happen and I think that we are trying to make this change in terms of philanthropic events in commercial real estate, bring everyone together with a passion they love and share the money raised to help other people find that passion.

The ‘Surf for Impact’ event was deemed a success, raising nearly $40,000 for the Challenged Athletes Foundation.