Surfing September off to a successful start

Victorian SurfAid ambassadors Nathan Rivalland and James Wilson-Browne kicked off their SurfAid Make A Wave challenge with a successful launch party, raising more than $10,000 to help provide clean water, health care and food security to families in need.

Participants of the Make a Wave challenge are surfing every day during September to raise money, individually and in teams, for charity organisation SurfAid.

Rivalland and Wilson-Browne, who are part of the Surfing Victoria team, hosted a launch party at 4 Pines on Saturday where they raised more than $10,000, putting them in the top four teams involved in Make A Wave.

“We were so thrilled to sell out the event and to hear that so many people had an amazing night through donating, meeting new people and of course having a boogie,” Rivalland and Wilson-Browne said.

“To raise in excess of $10,000 is absolutely huge and it’s a credit to all the overwhelming generosity from all those in attendance.

“It actually makes us feel a bit emotional thinking about how much our event can and will make a difference to those people in remote communities.

“Just $30 can provide health and hygiene training for a mother for a year, $50 can buy a weighing scale to identify malnourished children, $100 can provide a family with access to a latrine and handwashing facilities, $200 can train a midwife in safe birthing practices and $500 can help a family access clean water for a year.

“To put that into perspective, that’s 20 families that can now drink clean drinking water for a year, or enough to train 50 midwives.”

The pair thanked 4 Pines Torquay, SurfAid CEO Doug Lees for travelling from Sydney to attend, sponsors who donated for auctions and raffles, as well as everyone who contributed by purchasing raffle tickets or attending the night.

“We just want to say an absolutely massive thanks to everyone who donated to the cause last night through auction/raffle items and tickets,” Rivalland said.

“Ten-thousand dollars for a coastal town charity event is absolutely mind-boggling and it’s thanks to you that peoples lives are going to better.”

Make a Wave participants will continue to surf every day of September raising funds for SurfAid.

The Surfing Victoria team has raised more than $13,000, not far off their goal of $15,000.

Donate to the Surfing Victoria Make a Wave team at www.makeawave.co/surfingvictoriaSurfAid CEO Doug Lees travelled from Sydney to attend the event.