Point Loman Carter Faucher has teamed with North Island Credit Union to donate more than 25 surfboards and $7,500 to Boys to Men (BTM), a nonprofit mentoring fatherless teenage boys.
The donation will support the organization’s sixth annual 100 Wave Challenge, a fundraising surf-a-thon in September. The fundraiser’s goal is for each participant to raise at least $1,000 while attempting to surf 100 waves in 12 hours. Surfers raising upward of $1,000 are rewarded with prizes and incentives.
Faucher, a surfer himself whose mother is employed with the credit union, has been supporting the 100 Wave Challenge since 2013. When he found out the credit union had excess surfboards available after a recent remodel of its 10 branches around the county, he asked North Island to donate them to the BTM program.
“The organization (BTM) has really been generous in helping boys without fathers in their struggles to be successful at school and in social situations,” said Faucher. “I’m a student, and I heard about surfboards being available at my mother’s bank. So I worked to help get leashes and fins put on them and get them donated through the credit union.”
Steve O’Connell, president/CEO of North Island Credit Union, was glad to donate to such a worthy cause.
“We were honored to give these surfboards to the young men who have Boys to Men mentors teaching them how to surf,” he said. “We thought giving these to the promising surfers within this program to use during the 100 Wave Challenge was the perfect fit.”
After learning more about the program, O’Connell felt compelled to add a $7,500 donation to support BTM.
Faucher and North Island took the credit union’s donated surfboards to Joe Roper of Roper’s Custom Surfboard & SUP Repair to have them refurbished at no charge. The boards will be available for the boys to use during BTM’s weekly surf nights, which started June 23.
Though seemingly a small donation, BTM founder/mentor Joe Sigurdson said a surfboard can mean a lot to a disadvantaged youth from a fatherless family.
“We have hundreds of kids in the program who don’t begin to have the resources to purchase anything close to a surfboard,” said Sigurdson. “Having their own board impacts them emotionally, aiding them positively with their self-esteem, helping them to feel good about themselves. This gift is going to impact and excite 12-year-old boys who don’t have anything in their lives. This is like getting a new bike — or a new drum set. It’s cool, exciting and fun.”
BTM’s surf-a-thon accounts for 60 percent of the nonprofit’s annual budget, which has doubled since the first event six years ago. The event raised $320,000 in 2014 and $200,000 in 2013. The goal this year is $500,000. The organization plans to sign up as many as 400 surfers for this year’s event, compared with 165 in 2014.