Next Saturday, September 21, I’ll be heading to San Diego to take part in the 100 Wave Challenge — a charity event for an amazing youth mentoring program called Boys to Men.
Joe Sigurdson is the co-founder of Boys to Men and the creator of the 100 Wave Challenge. Joe’s incredible transformation from alcoholic, drug addict and nefarious criminal to mentor, role model, and hometown hero is beyond inspiring. If you haven't heard it, please take the time to listen to his story on the People Who Surf podcast. The work he and his amazing volunteers are doing giving guidance to at-risk and fatherless boys is having a dramatic impact. They're keeping these boys from going down the wrong path, which is a subject that's dear to my heart.
Sadly, boys without male good role models around are 9x more likely to drop out of school, 10x more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, and 20x more likely to go to prison.
It costs $94,000 to keep a kid in juvenile hall for a year. Meanwhile, it only cost $20,000 per year to run one of Boys to Men’s in-school mentoring programs, which keeps dozens from going down that path. Their group sessions transform angry, selfish, and hopeless boys into responsible, respectful and honorable young men. Boys who spend one year in the program improve their grades by 27% and have 85% fewer disciplinary issues. It’s no wonder the biggest cheerleaders for Boys to Men are teachers, counselors and administrators on the front lines.
The 100 Wave Challenge is the biggest fundraising event of the year for this incredible program, and we're hoping to raise $10,000 by Sept 21. Here’s how you can help.
1.) Use the donate button to the right and help us get to our $10,000 target.
2.) Join our People Who Surf team at the 100 Wave Challenge and start fundraising yourself.
3.) Form your own team!
We can't do it without you. Thank you so much for your consideration,
Matt