Waves broke along the shore of Surfrider Beach on Saturday, April 23, as hundreds of families, volunteers and athletes gathered in the early morning to share the stoke of surf for the first A Walk On Water (AWOW) surf therapy event of the season.
As canopies were erected on the beach and wetsuits ranging in sizes from extra small to extra tall were set out for athletes to take on the water, one thing was sure about AWOW’s operations: it takes a village.
“Our whole mission is giving back,” President Steven Lippman said. “We started AWOW … Pat [Notaro] and I have been working with special needs kids and multiple charities for the last 14-15 years. What we do is not new, but what we do is our own nonprofit.”
The nonprofit group provides surf therapy to special needs children as a tool to gain confidence, the positive effects of accomplishing a sport and to promote the therapeutic benefits of the ocean’s raw energy.
“We just thought, ‘Hey, we can do this.’ We don’t have to wait for other events,” Lippman said. “Let’s do it our way. What we do is surf therapy. We try to provide these families with these amazing days. We try to leave an impressionable vision, feeling. We want to stimulate the athletes’ senses.”
The ocean’s healing power was in true force on Saturday, with hundreds of families and volunteers cheering on athletes in and out of the water.
“There’s one little girl I work with a lot, her name’s Grace,” Lippman said. “I’ve been working with her for three years. When I first started working with her, she was first not very verbal, and now it’s like, ‘Uncle Lippy!’ and always hugging me and kissing me, and my heart just melts and just … she trusts me like my own child. It’s just amazing. Lots of surf instructors have that same bond with kids.”
AWOW Lead Surf Instructor Jean-Pierre Pereat agreed there’s something special about being able to bond with the children and families at the events.
“Most organizations, when they go to these events, they’re structured for the child — not the family,” Pereat said. “The difference with AWOW is that we integrate the families, it’s about the siblings and the families and the child. It’s about making the family connect together. It’s about bringing the brother and sister paddle out together, having that love of a family all throughout the day.”
What started out as an idea more than a decade ago to give back to families in need has grown into an operation that reaches thousands, whether on land or in water, through waves or online.
“What’s interesting is we took something very organic and very small … it was never intended to blow up,” Pereat said. “We were at the Hollister Ranch. We had four events per summer. We saw that there was a necessity for more and more. We loved what we were doing and we started branching out more. To do more, there’s a lot more responsibility. Now that we’re running our own, we understand that it takes a lot of work. It takes a village.”
That village includes donations and sponsorships from KIND Bars, Bump Coffee and an entire lunch setup from local favorite Vintage Grocers.
Pereat also brought in his and Tim Hazelip’s nonprofit Mighty Under Dogs’ (known locally as Malibu Under Dogs) photographers and videographers to facilitate on-scene photos printed for families to take home of the day’s events in and out of the water.
After a long day of sharing the stoke and surfing, Casa Escobar hosted AWOW for a night of free tacos and a silent auction to benefit the nonprofit.
“What’s beautiful about the City of Malibu is that they live and breathe it,” Pereat said. “They stand behind the children. They stand behind the community. I’m very proud to be behind AWOW and the Mighty Under Dogs. It’s one of the most blessed communities I’ve ever seen.”
Lippman agreed that the stoke was contagious.
“We work with the siblings and the athletes and now adults,” Lippman said. “They’re now sharing the same senses and the same feelings with their brothers and sisters. I know a couple of families who now own surfboards and they go camping and they take their kids out.
“Through that, all of the instructors have had incredible moments. I’ve had kids speak for the first time. You create all of these relationships, and it’s a part of my life and a lot of people’s lives now.”
For more information about A Walk On Water, visit awalkonwater.org.
