The man auction and art rumble were a bit success for Chicks with Sticks 2010! Stay tuned for the art auction and score some unique surf art in the name of charity!
Chicks with Sticks want to reach out to good causes by supporting local and global organisations. We feel it's time to give something back and luckily there are plenty of ways and many means to do this. Check out the charities that we're helping and find out how you can get involved too.. Paulo’s memorial fundThrough our Moroccan adventures we met the wonderful Paul Brewer, a guy who’s smile could light up the darkest Arabian night.Although his life was tragically cut short his spirit, vitality and eternal compassion for others will continue to live on through the website, festivals and memorial fund set up in his honour. Maintained by a collective of his family and friends, these ventures are dedicated to passing on funding to worldwide projects Paul would have supported and been passionate about.Chicks with Sticks will be dedicating a special prize in loving memory of Paulo! Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) is a UK-based non profit-making organisation campaigning for clean, safe recreational waters, free from sewage effluents, toxic chemicals, marine litter and nuclear waste. SAS also campaign to protect surf spots from environmental damage, negative impacts on wave quality and to safeguard recreational water users right of access.Founded in 1990 by a group of surfers, who were literally ‘sick of getting sick’ through repeated ear, nose, throat and gastric infections after going in the sea. Forming a local group they set about taking grassroots action to stop the sewage pollution at their local surf breaks in Cornwall.They were swiftly joined by like-minded water-users from around the UK and created what has now become a highly successful national campaign that gives recreational water users a voice on building a clean and safe water environment.SAS has been a major catalyst in the virtual elimination of continuous sewage discharges that were so prevalent when we started back in 1990. This has seen water quality improve greatly in many areas, and helped us all have a cleaner, safer experience in the sea all around the UK.
Surfers for Cetaceans (S4C) is committed to activating ocean-minded people everywhere to support the conservation and protection of whales, dolphins and their habitat. It’s through compassion, awareness, education, media and dedicated interventions that we operate. We seek to be a human voice for and defender of Cetaceans worldwide.
Surfers For Cetaceans was co-founded by professional surfer Dave Rastovich and ocean artist/activist Howie Cooke in 2004. The group was formed to mobilize surfers and the surf media against whaling and dolphin kills. As S4C established itself in the conservation world, it became apparent that more was needed from the group, and that simply informing the surfing community was not bringing enough results.In October 2007 Surfers For Cetaceans held two peaceful ceremonies in the 'Killing Cove' in Taiji, Japan. Whilst the first ceremony was held when no dolphins or whales were being killed, the second ceremony was held in the blood stained waters of the bay as the fishermen slaughtered a pod of twenty-four Pilot Whales. With international media present the group of surfers and celebraties attending managed to slow down the kills and expose this brutal reality to millions of people worldwide. And perhaps of more immediate impact, helped expose the truth that dolphin and whale meat is highly toxic and unsuitable for consumption. This has seen local schools and supermarkets remove all dolphin meat from their menus.Along with the Whale Icon Project and Taiji Dolphin campaigns S4C has held protests outside Japanese Embassies In Australia, educated children in Australia through school visits, and brought the issue of whaling and dolphin kills to millions of surfers worldwide through print, film, radio, and internet mediums.Surfers For Cetaceans acknowledges the many imbalances and issues our oceans face, though focuses on the cetacean issue due to the fact that our global surfing culture has such an intimate human and cetacean relationship. We share the inter species bond of riding waves for the sheer joy of it. The surfers love for dolphins and whales is one born of direct interaction in the ocean waves., and creates a feeling of compassion and kinship with cetaceans. Visit www.s4cglobal.org for more info. Ticket to Ride's Foundation
The Ticket to Ride Foundation works in the township of Masiphumelele, in the southern suburbs of Cape Town. The township is home to 30,000 people and the Foundation works providing youth upliftment programmes for the young boys and girls of the township. Focused around sports and education, the foundation arranges football, netball, arts and crafts, clean-up projects and surfing projects to occupy the downtime after the school day, when the kids would otherwise be on the street.
The Foundation cares for 70 girls. Traditionally in the Xosha culture, girls do not have the same opportunities as boys and are often called on to leave school early to focus on the household chores. The Ticket to Ride Foundation allows the girls space to breath and the freedom to express themselves and sponsors three netball teams, a bead making programme and a surfing programme.
Our Chicks with Sticks mantra is 'be free to surf'. We can see that the work of the Ticket to Ride Foundation with the girls of Masiphumelele Township is all about providing them with new opportunities and the money raised at the art rumble will help to provide equipment for the various projects, such as netballs and kits for the teams, paint for the ad-hoc pitch in the car park on Kolobe St, beads for the bead making scheme and transport to get the girls to the beach and surfing once a week.
PANTS is an organisation dedicated to raising awareness, funds and giving support to anyone affected by Gynae or pant area cancers.As a local charity, that is working closely with Cornwall Surfer Girls, we felt it particularly important to get involved and enjoy spending time with the lovely PANTS ladies whenever we get the chance. Contact them for any advice or information on pants matters, and check out the website! www.pantsmatters.org.uk
The English Surfing Federation are setting up a fund with Chicks with Sticks to support the UK's female surfers. The funds from the event given to the ESF will be used to support the UK's girl groms to participate in Eurosurf 09 in Jersey (also known as the European Surfing Championships)
The Soul Surfers Foundation is a registered non-profit organisation that brings together and supports local initiatives from around the world which use water sports as a motivation for underprivileged children to follow education, develop business skills and/or to overcome trauma.
The Soul Surfers Foundation will put money raised by the Chicks with Sticks event into a special funding pot to support initiatives in the Taghazout area of Morocco, a popular surfing destination for many UK surfers and where the idea for the Chicks with Sticks event was first born! Check out the Soul Surfers Website: www.soulsurfers.org
Paulo’s memorial fund
