My wife and I enjoyed watching our son learn how to surf at the Surfing Madonna surf camp last year. Might I mention that this camp was fully funded by the Surfing Madonna with private instructors from a professional surf school. God bless them as we could never afford to do this on our own. Our son was born deaf and has always wanted to surf, his room is dressed with images of the ocean, turtles, dolphins and surfers. We had so much fun watching our sons dream come true, meeting other parents making new friends. We even got to volunteer and help the other kids. The Surfing Madonna organization far exceeded our expectations of what a day in the water would be like. My wife and I took so many pictures and are fans for life. Thumbs up for you guys!
I had a terrible experience with this non-profit through their annual beach run. The Chairman/President of this organization was hostile, threatening and a bit scary to deal with when I tried to resolve my issues. It does not surprise me that in 2020 he was in dispute with the city of Encinitas and threatening to remove the famous Surfing Madonna mural. He obviously has trouble dealing with people and coming to mutually beneficial solutions.
For the record, the Surfing Madonna beach run was one of the worst races I've ever run; it was terribly unorganized, overly crowded for the space and did not supply the basic resources runners require for a paid event (adequate bathrooms, post-race recovery, etc.) I support the cause but not this organization. Your money is better spent/donated elsewhere.
What a wonderful and warm organization. They took our son out into the ocean and swam him around in one of their floating beach wheelchairs that they donated. We're looking forward to attending their free surf camp for special needs youth this summer. I can't wait to see my son ride his first wave. Thank you for all that you do Surfing Madonna.
With warm regards,
Jerry and Linda
I'm so happy to see a local nonprofit such as the Surfing Madonna Ocean Project donate so much back to our community. My father and I used their floating beach wheelchairs and mats to do something I never dreamed was possible. We floated in the ocean and laughed as the waves pushed us around. These folks are the real deal, go Surfing Madonna Project!!!!
We came all the way out from Riverside to participate in their free special needs surf camp. My daughter and I had a great time, the volunteers and staff were pleasant, the surf teachers were full of smiles and my daughter who has Cerebral Palsy managed to stand up and surf a bunch of waves. Two hours of surfing and my daughter was fast asleep when we got in the car, but full of laughter when she woke up. I actually ended up jumping in the water and volunteering myself at one point. We'll never forget this day and what the Surfing Madonna did for us. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Surfing Madonna. Janice W.
Our daughter received a $1,800 scholarship from the Surfing Madonna Oceans Project. She loves the ocean and its been her passion to study Marine Biologist and make a difference in and along our coastal habitat sine she was a freshman. I'm so proud of her and so thankful for the Surfing Madonna in helping her with the first part of her tuition. They were also nice enough to write a letter of support to her college of choice for scholarship opportunities.
Surfing_Madonna 04/23/2015
Thank you for the kind words, Lisa! Good luck to your daughter and all of her endeavors! Keep us posted too! We would love to tell her story in a couple years and see what she's up to!
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Surfing_Madonna 04/23/2015 Thank you so much for sharing your story and your kind words. James was an all-star!! The volunteers and instructors had SO MUCH fun with him. He was definitely born to surf :) We hope to see you all again this year!