Life Rolls On They Will Surf Again Huntington Beach

It's that time of year again! Life Rolls On Foundation's They Will Surf Again Southern California tour begins in Orange County at Huntington Beach, CA.  I was introduced to LRO back in 2009 working as a Snowboard Instructor. One of my co workers was dating a paraplegic and was also involved in the adaptive snowboarding program when he approached me about the LRO programs. So during that summer when LRO held their annual event in La Jolla, I volunteered to help out. Since then, I have volunteered at every one of their three So Cal TWSA events.

Group photo during opening announcements
(Photo by Gurl in LA)

As each event went by, I've helped on land, registration, and the chill zone.  I've adapted to working in the chill zone, which is no where near "chill" as this is basically the staging area. The main focal point where surfers, spectators and volunteers come to check on schedules, surfer times and team organization. As my credible experience became more evident, I was getting assigned as Chill Zone team leader.  Being a team leader is no easy task as all the volunteers assigned to your team looks to you for directions and guidance. Many of the volunteers are rookies, so it's important to clarify their duties, making sure they have an enjoyable time as well as provide the adaptive surfers a memorable experience.

This little girl is excited to ride the waves
(Photo by Gurl in LA)

For this event, I was assigned as team leader along with another friend of mine, whom I met at last year's Zuma Beach event. Since we already had a system in place, it was an easy day for us.  This was also the first time we rocked our Flex Watches benefiting Life Rolls On. These watches are absolutely fabulous and comes in different colors, with each one benefiting a different charity. When you purchase the white watches, a portion of the proceeds goes to LRO. Naturally, I had to show my support and get a couple of the white watches. The weather in Huntington Beach in April is always a hit or miss, and this time it was a total miss.  It must have been only 50 degrees the entire day as we were all pretty much freezing our butts off.  But we fought through the cold and had an awesome time seeing all the happy faces on these adaptive surfers!

Flexing our LRO White Flex Whites
(Photo by Gurl in LA)

You never really appreciate everything you have been blessed with until you see what these people go through. So just being there and giving our time by helping organize and run these types of events to ensure a good and memorable experience for them always warms my heart.  For volunteering info or to donate to this awesome charity, please check them out!