It is amazing what can happen while drinking coffee after a great workout.  As soon as we realized that we were actually going to swim from Catalina to Long Beach we immediately started talking about how to make our little swim even bigger.  All of us are strong supporters of our local Long Beach community and we saw an opportunity here to make our challenge about more than just ourselves.  We looked for ways we could give something back and decided to focus our efforts on four local charitable organizations with which we had direct ties to.

Chris Geer’s friends, Billy Waddle and Bobby Lienau are donating the use of their 50’ Sportfisher as our support boat and crew and asked that we include Breast Cancer Angels in our fund raising efforts.  Billy’s family has been active with the charity for over 15 years.

Scott Meyer has worked with Casa Youth Shelter for many years and is a strong supporter . . .

Shawn Oatey is a supporter of Children Today and has direct ties with a number of people in the organization, including current President Josh Lowenthal and incoming President Alex Cherin.  An amazing group of people making a difference for homeless kids here in Long Beach on a daily basis.

Matt Hanson helped to launch the Long Beach chapter of Habitat for Humanity 20 years ago and was its inaugural President.  With a number of local building projects going on right now, Habitat continues to provide affordable housing and hope for a number of local families each year.

We are all connected to the world we live in whether we choose to be or not and it takes active participation by individuals and families to build a true sense of community.  We hope that by continuing to share this thinking with our friends and family we can continue to grow together and make the world, and more specifically our world of Long Beach, a better place!

Thank you for your support and for being a part of THE SWIM 2010!