Many of these kids came from gritty urban neighborhoods-thus the name–and would otherwise have zero chance of ever getting near a surfboard or learning how to swim. Many have never even been to the beach. Photo: Urban Surf 4Kids
Can you still remember the first time you watch The Endless Summer? It’s easily one of those classic pieces of surf history that transcends the film itself. The point is, we don’t dust our copy of it off a few times every year for the outdated high performance surfing. Robert August and Mike Hynson have timeless style, but so does Craig Anderson in a stand up barrel. Which is why our inspiration for taking in the evening with Bruce Brown and his duo is all about nostalgia and the spirit of all great things surf: adventure, exploration, and enjoying the ride.
We’d like to think that same inspiration fuels Urban Surf 4Kids, an outreach organization that uses surfing to empower orphans and foster children. Some of the children US4K works with have never even seen the beach until this program introduces them to surfing, then empowers them with opportunities to turn around and pay it all forward themselves.“Most of these kids are used to being the community project instead of working on a community project,” says founder Wes Stewart. “At Urban Surf 4 Kids, our goal for every orphan and foster child is to remove the ‘underpriviledged’ label and replace it with the ’empowered’ label.”
Urban Surf 4Kids’ latest and greatest surf centric good deed is their movie, music and dinner night, with The Endless Summer as the headlining feature. Many of us have been to a surf film screening, taking in all the hoots that come with it all. But how often have we used the good old fashioned surf film movie night to support a great cause? By pairing the two together, US4K hopes to raise money and awareness for their mission of teaching kids how to first have fun and then give back to their communities through surfing.
It’s everybody’s all-time favorite.
Visit Urban Surf 4Kids online to learn more, or become a part of their mission. For all those that would like to attend, their movie, music and dinner fundraiser takes place at Hurley Headquarters in Costa Mesa from 6:30pm-10:00pm on Friday, September 25, 2015.
