The Hawaii Adaptive Surf Team needs your kokua! We have a hearing this Friday 03/24 for a grant that would cover team member travel costs to the World Championships and pay a team manager. Our state congresspeople need to hear from Hawaii voters that they support funding Team Hawaii! Here’s what you can do if you are a voter in Hawaii:
- First, see if your senator is on the Ways and Means committee.
- Next, see if your representative is on the House Finance committee.
- If you have one in either committee (or both!), send them an email with the following text, with their name and yours filled in:
Aloha SEN/REP NAME,
My name is YOUR NAME. I am a resident in your district, and I am a supporter of the Hawaii Adaptive Surf Team. Recently, through our community partners – Adaptive Hawaii, we have submitted a GIA request to help grow the capacity of our team.
Competitive adaptive surfing is growing exponentially and has a chance to be included in the Paralympics in 2028. Surfers from Team Hawaii will feed directly into Team USA and all have high hopes of bringing home gold for Hawaii one day. In order for us to get to that point however, each surfer and the team as a whole needs support from our entire community. This year, due to financial hardships, a significant portion of our team could not attend the ISA World Parasurf Championships.
This funding would ensure Hawaii, the birthplace of modern surfing, will continue to be represented on the world stage and continue to be a leader in adaptive surfing. Our team of disabled surfers and supporters would deeply appreciate your support and interest in this request. You can go to our instagram page @hawaiiadaptivesurfteam to learn more, or visit our website at hawaiiadaptivesurfteam.com.
Mahalo,
YOUR NAME
Mahalo again for helping our team continue making Hawaii proud! IMUA TEAM HAWAII!!!