Film: AccesSurf Hawaii (United States)

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00:00:00: SOUND UP; [MUSIC PLAYS]
00:00:01: ACCESSURF HAWAII
00:00:24: CHILD: This was …; MARK: We’re making movies.; CHILD: In the shade?; MARK: Wow, and so is that the first time you did surfing?; CHILD: Naw, third.; MARK: Third time?; CHILD: No. I went surfing a lot of times with …; CHILD: I went surfing with my dad.; MARK: You weren’t scared at all, huh?; CHILD: Yeah, but it was good.; MARK: All right! [LAUGHING] Whoo-hoo!
00:00:45: MARK: AccesSurf was started out my desire to provide the opportunity for families to get back into the ocean. Being a therapist living here in Hawaii, in talking with a lot of the families with physical and mental challenges, it was real obvious to me that there was a disconnection with them visiting a part of their culture, which was the ocean. After they’ve had an accident or something has happened to them, they repeatedly were telling me that, You know, we don’t visit the ocean that much, or, My family does, but I don’t go with them. When I asked them why, they said, Well, because it’s a hassle. It's a little too hard on asking my brother to help me push through the sand and to get in the water. I’m like, really? I said, Well, there’re no beach mats? There’re no accessible beaches around? And they said, No. So instead of asking my brothers to help carry me across the sand, you know, I just need to stay at home.
00:01:38: RICHARD: My name is Richard Julian. I am one of the co-founders of AccesSurf Hawaii. We started in March 2006. The most rewarding part of the job is seeing people like myself with disabilities, get back into the water and get that connection, and feel the joy of being in the water again.
00:01:54: MARK: Our mission is to provide not only a day at the beach for people with the desire to get to the beach, but also the specialized equipment and skilled trained volunteers and staff to help assist with that. So that they can come and have a carefree day like you and I have, at the beach.; CHARLIE: How many volunteers do you have on your staff?; MARK: When we started out, we had about 12 volunteers—we started about two years ago. Now we have over 300 volunteers.; ANN: All our volunteers are super selfless. They’re able to just take the day, I mean, a lot of them work, you know, and then Saturdays are the only days that they have to just do their things, but they decide to devote their Saturdays to us and carry us in the water or take us out in the water.
00:02:42: CHARLIE: Do you have a single success story you can share with us that really touches your heart?; MARK: There’s a lot. It's hard to pick one story. We have a little boy—actually he’s about 12 years old, teenage boy. He’s from the Island and has autistic tendencies and a few other things.; [MUSIC PLAYS]; MARK: He came out to the ocean, became involved with our program. At first he was a little apprehensive. He was riding on the boards a little bit, smiling, wanting to do it but then jumping off and real impulsive. As he’s been through the program the last year, his parents have seen remarkable gains in his paying attention and wanting to focus in on doing tasks. So they’ve been utilizing our program with working with him on his schoolwork, with working with him to focus on things at hand at home, and now he’s coming out, and he was up standing for the first time, on his own, after a year, and it’s just an incredible—I look back at the family and the family’s sitting there crying on the beach, beside me, and they say, Thank you, Mark, for providing this. It means so much to us and our family. So it’s really cool.
00:04:58: RICHARD: Yeah, you know, I remember the first time I went back out to Waikiki, and I took off on my first wave on my new adaptive ski, and it was just joy, the same feeling I had as a kid. Felt exactly the same. I was doing it differently, but it was exactly the same joy I had as a kid. Once I was back in the water, it was like a rebirth for me. My life was given back to me.
00:04:23: MARK: We do the Triple Crown, you know, the world classic surf contest here. We talked to them about it, and they’re all for having an accessible event. And they realized, Yeah, we don’t. They asked us to come, so at their three locations—Sunset, here, and around Pipe—they had a viewing station with our mats, for the first time ever, for visitors, families. AccesSurf Hawaii has the dream of not only providing accessible beaches here in Hawaii, but we would like to expand that and provide programs for people, families, to reconnect back to the ocean. Not only here on this island, but also around the world.
00:05:05: CHARLIE: I’ve seen a lot of things. But that might be one of the most impressive, touching moments in my life. Talk about camaraderie, values, teamwork, love. Being selfless, no ego. Harnessing Nature.
00:05:28: CHARLIE: North Shore of Hawaii. Never stop learning, every day of your life. It's just beautiful.; [MUSIC PLAYS]
00:06:59: MAN: It was a little hard to balance. But I’m just trying to get the hang of it, so maybe this next time I’ll do a little better. I’ve got my friend Richie over there to make sure that I don’t get hurt.; MARK: Did you have fun out there, baby? Yeah?; MOM: [LAUGHING]; MARK: He’s the champion surfer of the day.; MOM: Yeah he is, huh?. [laughter]; MARK: Whoo hoo!
00:07:22: MARK: Wow! How was it?; BOY IN THE WATER: Fun; MARK: Wasn’t it good?; BOY: Yeah.; MARK: Did you have fun?; BOY: Yeah.; MARK: Whoo hoo! Good job!; [MUSIC PLAYS]; MARK: Are you gonna go solo this time, or are you going with a friend?; BOY ON BEACH: No!; [LAUGHTER]; BOY: With you!; MARK: With me? Okay, we’ll go! We’ll go together.
00:07:47: RICHARD: It's just full of Mana, you know, it’s that connection to the island and the ocean that we have. It's just something that heals the soul when you’re in there. The dream for the program would be to have it expand and just see us help all kinds of people with disabilities back in the water. From autistic kids to quadriplegics, paraplegics. Anybody we can help get back in the water, no matter what their abilities—that’s the dream. To provide that opportunity for them.; [MUSIC PLAYS]; END OF FILM

Now Viewing: AccesSurf Hawaii

The spirit of Hawaii comes alive in this film about AccesSurf, an organization dedicated to giving everyone the chance to experience the magnificence of the ocean. By providing therapeutic instruction and making Hawaii's beautiful beaches accessible to anyone, regardless of disability, AccesSurf exhibits the true essence of aloha.