Rob Machado, Kelly Slater, Damien Hobgood, Firewire Surfboards, and the World-Famous Surf Ranch are just a few of the legends that are stepping up to Pro-Vide experiences that will be awarded to the highest bidder in support of SurfAid’s life changing Mother and Child Health Programs.
In 1999, Dr. Dave Jenkins was getting barreled along a remote chain of islands off the coast of Sumatra, the Mentawais. He made the now infamous decision to step behind the palms and was faced with women and children dying at an alarming rate from diseases that were not only treatable, but preventable. He was compelled to help and thanks to the collective support from surfers around the world, SurfAid was born.
Some of the very first people to join Dr. Dave’s efforts were the professional surfing community. They had spent time in these same villages, and like Dr. Dave, wanted to help. Two decades later their support continues. Along with SurfAid, they are proud to announce the launch of the SurfAid Pro-Vide Online Auction.
You will have until midnight, July 31 to bid on items that can’t be purchased anywhere else. Items such as a hand shaped board designed to your personal specs by Rob Machado or a piece of history, donated by the legend himself, Kelly Slater. In 2015 Slater Designs was founded with a mission to draw new lines on waves – lines not previously imagined. Kelly Slater enlisted Daniel Thomson to create two avantgarde shapes – the Sci – FI and the Omni. Up for bidding is the Omni, a round tailed, snub nosed tube machine. It’s one of the original R and D shapes Kelly used to refine the design before it launched to market in 2016.
Learn more about Kelly’s board and check out the entire stacked lineup of items up for bid before the SurfAid Pro-Vide Online Auction closes on Friday. Proceeds will support SurfAid’s global Mother and Child Health programs and ensure remote communities continue to have access to clean water & sanitation, basic healthcare, and improved nutrition during this unprecedented time of need. The global pandemic has put the SurfAid Cup event series on hold, but the need for support is greater than ever.
Click, surf, and save a life.
About SurfAid:
For over 20 years, SurfAid’s core mission has been to save the lives of women and children in remote areas that are connected to us through surfing.
We work in Indonesia’s surfing heartlands – the Mentawai, Nias, Sumba and Sumbawa and last year, SurfAid launched two new programs in Solomon Islands and Baja, Mexico.
In these extremely isolated areas where few visitors except surfers go, mothers and children are faced with some of the highest mortality rates in the world.
Up to 70% of these deaths can be prevented by improving access to the core elements of SurfAid’s Mother and Child Health Programs, clean water & sanitation, basic healthcare, and nutrition.
We work with communities on long-term behaviour change through our “hand up, not a hand out” approach. Our local staff provide advice, training, and expertise, but it is up to the community to implement the initiatives and embrace change.
In the past 20 years, in addition to building award winning health programs, SurfAid has helped communities re-build their lives after five major natural disasters – earthquakes and tsunamis in the area.
